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Query: UMLS:C0006142 (breast cancer)
 160,383 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Epidermal growth factor (EGF) usually stimulates the proliferation of a variety of normal and malignant cells. In contrast, MDA468, a human breast cancer cell line with a very high number of EGF receptors, is growth inhibited in response to concentrations of EGF that stimulate most other cells. The purpose of this study was to elucidate the cellular mechanisms involved in EGF-induced growth inhibition. EGF treatment stimulated the sustained expression of the cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK) inhibitor p21WAF1. The p21WAF1 induction in EGF-treated MDA468 cells is probably p53-independent since these cells contain no active p53. The promoter for p21WAF1 gene contains binding sites for signal transducer and activator of transcription (STAT) and EGF is known to activate members of this family of transcription factors. Using electrophoretic mobility shift assays (EMSA), we found that EGF activates STAT1 and STAT3 in the MDA468 cells. These activated STATs specifically recognized the three conserved STAT-responsive elements in the p21WAF1 gene promoter, suggesting that STATs may be responsible for the p21WAF1 induction by EGF in MDA468 cells. The sustained rise in p21WAF1 in response to EGF is proposed to be a means of growth inhibition in these cells.
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PMID:MDA468 growth inhibition by EGF is associated with the induction of the cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor p21WAF1. 925 92

Protein tyrosine kinases activate the STAT (signal transducer and activator of transcription) signaling pathway, which can play essential roles in cell differentiation, cell cycle control, and development. However, the potential role of the STAT signaling pathway in the induction of apoptosis remains unexplored. Here we show that gamma interferon (IFN-gamma) activated STAT1 and induced apoptosis in both A431 and HeLa cells, whereas epidermal growth factor (EGF) activated STAT proteins and induced apoptosis in A431 but not in HeLa cells. EGF receptor autophosphorylation and mitogen-activated protein kinase activation in response to EGF were similar in both cell lines. The breast cancer cell line MDA-MB-468 exhibited a similar response to A431 cells, i.e., STAT activation and apoptosis correlatively resulted from EGF or IFN-gamma treatment. In addition, in a mutant A431 cell line in which STAT activation was abolished, no apoptosis was induced by either EGF or IFN-gamma. We further demonstrated that both EGF and IFN-gamma induced caspase 1 (interleukin-1beta converting enzyme [ICE]) gene expression in a STAT-dependent manner. IFN-gamma was unable to induce ICE gene expression and apoptosis in either JAK1-deficient HeLa cells (E2A4) or STAT1-deficient cells (U3A). However, ICE gene expression and apoptosis were induced by IFN-gamma in U3A cells into which STAT1 had been reintroduced. Moreover, both EGF-induced apoptosis and IFN-gamma-induced apoptosis were effectively blocked by Z-Val-Ala-Asp-fluoromethylketone (ZVAD) in all the cells tested, and studies from ICE-deficient cells indicated that ICE gene expression was necessary for IFN-gamma-induced apoptosis. We conclude that activation of the STAT signaling pathway can induce apoptosis through the induction of ICE gene expression.
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PMID:Activation of the STAT signaling pathway can cause expression of caspase 1 and apoptosis. 927 10

Normal breast tissue as well as most breast tumors are dependent on estrogen for growth. Breast tumors often progress to a hormone-independent state which is associated with poor prognosis. It has been proposed that activation of growth factor signaling pathways in the tumor cells may free them from hormonal control. Certain growth factors can mimic estrogen responses by activating the estrogen receptor via its phosphorylation by mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinase. In this report, however, we show that fibroblast growth factor (FGF), despite activating MAP kinase, is growth-inhibitory for estrogen-dependent MCF-7 breast cancer cells. MCF-7 cells treated with FGFs exhibit slower growth than controls in both the presence and absence of estrogen, with a concomitant increase in the number of cells in G0/G1. Expression of a constitutively activated FGF receptor in these cells further decreases their growth rate, which is no longer influenced by FGF treatment. Activation of the FGF signaling pathway also reduces the induction of an estrogen-responsive CAT reporter plasmid by estrogen, an effect which appears to be independent of serine 118 in the estrogen receptor, a MAP kinase target site. The inhibitory effects of FGF are probably mediated through the sustained induction of the cyclin kinase inhibitor p21/WAF1/CIP1, which is upregulated at the mRNA and protein level by FGF. FGF treatment also results in the phosphorylation of STAT1. This upregulation of p21 and phosphorylation of STAT1 is not detectable in T47D breast cancer cells upon which FGF has no inhibitory effect.
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PMID:FGF signaling activates STAT1 and p21 and inhibits the estrogen response and proliferation of MCF-7 cells. 963 41

Most of the activities of IFN-gamma are the result of STAT1-mediated transcriptional responses. In this study, we show that the BRCA1 tumor suppressor acts in concert with STAT1 to differentially activate transcription of a subset of IFN-gamma target genes and mediates growth inhibition by this cytokine. After IFN-gamma treatment, induction of the cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor, p21WAF1, was synergistically activated by BRCA1, whereas the IRF-1 gene was unaffected. Importantly, the differential induction of p21WAF1 was impaired in breast cancer cells homozygous for the mutant BRCA1 5382C allele. Biochemical analysis illustrated that the mechanism of this transcriptional synergy involves interaction between BRCA1 aa 502-802 and the C-terminal transcriptional activation domain of STAT1 including Ser-727 whose phosphorylation is crucial for transcriptional activation. Significantly, STAT1 proteins mutated at Ser-727 bind poorly to BRCA1, reinforcing the importance of Ser-727 in the recruitment of transcriptional coactivators by STAT proteins. These findings reveal a novel mechanism for BRCA1 function in the IFN-gamma-dependent tumor surveillance system.
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PMID:Collaboration of signal transducer and activator of transcription 1 (STAT1) and BRCA1 in differential regulation of IFN-gamma target genes. 1079 30

IFN-gamma-mediated growth inhibition requires signal transducers and activators of transcription (STAT)-1 activation and may require induction of the cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor p21. Using an electrophoretic mobility shift assay, we identified STAT1 activation after IFN-gamma treatment in breast cancer cell lines. Accordingly, IFN-gamma inhibited proliferation of monolayer cultured MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cells. Interestingly, IFN-gamma inhibited anchorage-independent growth of MCF-7 cells but had no effect on MDA-MB-231 colony formation. Because p21 has been shown to play a role in anchorage-independent growth and is a transcriptional target of STAT1, we examined the effect of IFN-gamma on p21 mRNA. We found that IFN-gamma induced p21 mRNA in MCF-7 cells but not in MDA-MB-231 cells. Furthermore, IFN-gamma induced activation of a p21 promoter-luciferase reporter construct that contained the STAT1-inducible element in MCF-7 cells, but not in MDA-MB-231 cells. IFN-gamma treatment resulted in increased p21 protein in MCF-7 cells, whereas MDA-MB-231 cells did not appear to express detectable p21, even after IFN-gamma treatment. However, in MDA-MB-231 cells, p21 protein was detected only after proteosome inhibition, suggesting that degradation may be responsible for the undetectable level of p21 in these cells, despite the abundant mRNA levels. Finally, focus formation of MDA-MB-231 cells was inhibited by overexpression of p21. In conclusion, STAT1 activation does not appear to be sufficient for IFN-gamma-mediated growth inhibition. Furthermore, the role of p21 appears to be complex because monolayer growth inhibition occurs in the absence of p21, but anchorage-independent growth inhibition may require p21. Breast cancer cells may provide a unique model for further study of IFN-gamma signaling.
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PMID:The role of p21 in interferon gamma-mediated growth inhibition of human breast cancer cells. 1091 Jan

A number of studies have demonstrated that the STAT pathway is an important signaling cascade utilized by the IL-6 cytokine family to regulate a variety of cell functions. However, the downstream target genes of STAT activation that mediate the cytokine-induced cellular responses are largely uncharacterized. The aims of the current study are to determine whether the STAT signaling pathway is critically involved in the oncostatin M (OM)-induced growth inhibition and morphological changes of MCF-7 cells and to identify STAT3-target genes that are utilized by OM to regulate cell growth and morphology. We show that expression of a dominant negative (DN) mutant of STAT3 in MCF-7 cells completely eliminated the antiproliferative activity of OM, whereas expression of DN STAT1 had no effect. The growth inhibition of breast cancer cells was achieved through a concerted action of OM on cell cycle components. We have identified four cell cycle regulators including c-myc, cyclin D1, c/EBPdelta, and p53 as downstream effectors of the OM-activated STAT3 signaling cascade. The expression of these genes is differentially regulated by OM in MCF-7 cells, but is unaffected by OM in MCF-7-dnStat3 stable clones. We also demonstrate that the OM-induced morphological changes are correlated with increased cell motility in a STAT3-dependent manner. Expression analysis of extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins leads to the identification of fibronectin as a novel OM-regulated ECM component. Our studies further reveal that STAT3 plays a key role in the robust induction of fibronectin expression by OM in MCF-7 and T47D cells. These new findings provide a molecular basis for the mechanistic understanding of the effects of OM on cell growth and migration.
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PMID:Delineating an oncostatin M-activated STAT3 signaling pathway that coordinates the expression of genes involved in cell cycle regulation and extracellular matrix deposition of MCF-7 cells. 1258 69

Intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1) works as one of the ligands for activating the killing activity of natural killer (NK) cells and cancer specific cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL). Expression of ICAM-1 enhances lymphocyte adhesion to the cancer cells in vivo. Cancer cell lines express significantly lower level of ICAM-1 than that of normal epithelium or benign cells. Overexpression of LIGHT (LIGHT: homologous to lymphotoxins, indicating inducible expression, and competes with herpes simplex virus glycoprotein D for herpes virus entry mediator [HVEM/TR2]) in MDA-MB-231 human breast cancer cells was observed to suppress tumor growth in vivo. In order to elucidate the mechanisms how LIGHT overexpression could trigger tumor suppression, the expression level of a panel of cell surface makers CD54, CD56, CD95, and CD119 was investigated in a group of cancer cells. Flow cytometry analysis results demonstrate that LIGHT gene expression in cancer cells can greatly increase ICAM-1 expression level, IFNgamma alone can stimulate cancer cells to express ICAM-1, which can be highly augmented by LIGHT in a dose-dependent manner. This upregulation of ICAM-1 expression is not only at ICAM-1 protein trafficking level on cell surface as demonstrated by flow cytometry analysis, but also at ICAM-1 total protein level as confirmed by Western blot. There is no difference of expression level among these cancer cell lines for the other three cell surface markers: CD56, CD95 (Fas), and CD119. It was confirmed that LIGHT enhancement upregulation of ICAM-1 expression is at least STAT1 and JAK1 dependent by using STAT1-deficient U3A and JAK1-deficient E2A4 cells. These findings suggest that LIGHT-induced inhibition of tumor growth is highly correlated with its upregulation of ICAM-1 expression.
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PMID:Light stimulates IFNgamma-mediated intercellular adhesion molecule-1 upregulation of cancer cells. 1265 Oct 68

Indole-3-carbinol (I3C), a naturally occurring compound of Brassica vegetables, has promising anticancer properties and activates an anti-proliferative pathway that induces a G1 cell cycle arrest of human breast cancer cells. A microarray analysis of I3C treated versus untreated MCF-7 breast cancer cells revealed that I3C increased expression of the interferon gamma receptor 1 (IFNgammaR1). Western blot and RT-PCR analysis demonstrated that I3C strongly and rapidly stimulated IFNgammaR1 gene expression. Transfection of a series of 5' deletion constructs of the IFNgammaR1 reporter plasmids revealed that I3C significantly stimulates the promoter activity of the IFNgammaR1 and uncovered an I3C-responsive region between -540 and -240 bp of the IFNgammaR1 promoter. I3C stimulation of the IFNgammaR1 expression suggests that indole treatment should enhance IFNgamma responsiveness in breast cancer cells. A combination of I3C and IFNgamma synergistically activated STAT1 proteins by increasing phosphorylation at the Tyr-701 site. In addition, I3C and IFNgamma together more effectively induced a G1 cell cycle arrest and stimulated expression of the p21(Waf1/Cip1) cell cycle inhibitor, compared with the effects of either agent alone. Our results suggest that one mechanism by which I3C mediates these anticancer effects is by stimulating expression of the IFNgammaR1 and augmenting the IFNgamma response in MCF-7 human breast cancer cells.
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PMID:Indole-3-carbinol stimulates transcription of the interferon gamma receptor 1 gene and augments interferon responsiveness in human breast cancer cells. 1498 19

More than half of the reported missense changes in the breast cancer susceptibility protein BRCA1 occur in exon 11, but none has been clearly identified as disease associated and only 28 are designated 'probable' neutral polymorphisms. Previously, in a comparison of sequences from 57 eutherian mammal species, we found seven 'highly conserved regions' between amino acids 282 and 1103, and identified 38 missense changes as likely to disrupt gene function. These conserved regions were also present in birds and amphibians and included only six of the mutations predicted to affect function. In this new analysis, we hypothesized that using 37 ancestral sequences derived from the 57 GenBank sequences and including eight marsupial sequences would allow us to identify regions unique to mammals and refine our predictions of disease-associated missense changes. We identified 13 conserved regions, three of which appear to be unique to mammals, and 21 likely disease-associated missense changes, 11 of which occur in conserved regions. Seven regions identified in this analysis, including the three found only in mammalian sequences, and nine missense changes predicted to affect function are in the putative STAT1-interaction domain, suggesting that the role of STAT1 in immune response is important to mammary function. The reduction in the number of missense changes predicted to be disease associated and the identification of conserved regions specific to mammals can facilitate the further study of the role of missense changes in BRCA1-associated breast cancers.
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PMID:Marsupial BRCA1: conserved regions in mammals and the potential effect of missense changes. 1500 88

CCAAT/enhancer binding protein delta (C/EBPdelta) plays a key role in mammary epithelial cell G0 growth arrest. C/EBPdelta gene expression is down-regulated in rodent mammary tumorigenesis and in human breast cancer, suggesting that "loss of function" alterations in C/EBPdelta gene expression are common in mammary gland malignancies. The goal of this study was to systematically investigate the mechanisms controlling C/EBPdelta gene expression in MCF-10A and MCF-12A human mammary epithelial cell lines. The results demonstrate that G0 growth arrest conditions (i.e., serum and growth factor withdrawal or Oncostatin M (OSM) treatment) result in the activation of JAK1, JAK2, and Tyk 2, members of the Janus kinase family of non-receptor tyrosine kinases, in MCF-10A and MCF-12A cells. Growth arrest or OSM treatment also specifically increases activated (phosphorylated) signal transduction and activators of transcription 3 (STAT3) levels, demonstrating that STAT3, not STAT1 or STAT5, is the downstream target of the activated Janus kinases in MCF-10A and MCF-12A cells. Whole cell lysates from G0 growth arrested (GA) and OSM-treated MCF-12A cells exhibit increased acute phase response element (APRE) binding compared to lysates from growing (GR) MCF-12A cells. Transient transfection using C/EBPdelta promoter-luciferase constructs demonstrated that the APRE (STAT3) consensus binding site is essential for growth arrest or OSM induction of the C/EBPdelta promoter. Mutation of the C/EBPdelta promoter STAT3 site or expression of a dominant negative STAT3 construct (STAT3delta) reduces C/EBPdelta promoter activity in response to growth arrest conditions. The human C/EBPdelta promoter also contains an Sp1 site at -61 bp (relative to the transcriptional start site) which is required for basal transcriptional activation. Mutation or deletion of the Sp1 site decreases promoter activity in response to growth arrest conditions. Treatment with the transcriptional inhibitor actinomycin D demonstrated that the C/EBPdelta mRNA exhibits a relatively short half-life (approximately 40 min). Similarly, treatment with the translational inhibitor anisomysin demonstrated that the C/EBPdelta protein half-life was also relatively short (approximately 160 min). These results indicate that the human C/EBPdelta gene is controlled at multiple levels, consistent with a role for C/EBPdelta in cell cycle control and/or cell fate determination.
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PMID:CCAAT/Enhancer binding protein delta (c/EBPdelta) regulation and expression in human mammary epithelial cells: II. Analysis of activating signal transduction pathways, transcriptional, post-transcriptional, and post-translational control. 1538 78


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