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Targeting AU-rich element-mediated mRNA decay with a truncated active form of the zinc-finger protein TIS11b/BRF1 impairs major hallmarks of mammary tumorigenesis

Oncogene volume 38, pages 5174–5190 (2019)Cite this article

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Abstract

Altered expression of regulatory RNA-binding proteins (RBPs) in cancer leads to abnormal expression of mRNAs encoding many factors involved in cancer hallmarks. While conventional anticancer therapies usually target one pathway at a time, targeting key RBP would affect multiple genes and thus overcome drug resistance. Among the Tristetraprolin family of RBP, TIS11b/BRF1/ZFP36L1 mediates mRNA decay through binding to Adenylate/Uridylate (AU-rich elements) in mRNA 3ʹ-untranslated region and recruitment of mRNA degradation enzymes. Here, we show that TIS11b is markedly underexpressed in three breast cancer cell lines, as well as in breast tumor samples. We hypothesized that restoring intracellular TIS11b levels could impair cancer cell phenotypic traits. We thus generated a derivative of TIS11b called R9-ZnCS334D, by combining N-terminal domain deletion, serine-to-aspartate substitution at position 334 to enhance the function of the protein and fusion to the cell-penetrating peptide polyarginine R9. R9-ZnCS334D not only blunted secretion of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) but also inhibited proliferation, migration, invasion, and anchorage-independent growth of murine 4T1 or human MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cells. Moreover, R9-ZnCS334D prevented endothelial cell organization into vessel-like structures, suggesting that it could potentially target various cell types within the tumor microenvironment. In vivo, injection of R9-ZnCS334D in 4T1 tumors impaired tumor growth, decreased tumor hypoxia, and expression of the epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) markers Snail, Vimentin, and N-cadherin. R9-ZnCS334D also hindered the expression of chemokines and proteins involved in cancer-related inflammation and invasion including Fractalkine (CX3CL1), SDF-1 (CXCL12), MCP-1 (CCL2), NOV (CCN3), and Pentraxin-3 (PTX3). Collectively, our data indicate that R9-ZnCS334D counteracts multiple traits of breast cancer cell aggressiveness and suggest that this novel protein could serve as the basis for innovative multi-target therapies in cancer.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM U1036), the Commissariat à l’Energie Atomique (to FR), The University Grenoble Alpes (UGA), the Labex GRAL (ANR-10-LABX-49-01), the Fondation ARC and the Fondation pour la Recherche Médicale (to SP). We thank Dr. Jean-Luc Coll (Institute for Advanced Biosciences, Grenoble, France) and Dr. Olivier Peyruchaud (INSERM U1033, Faculté de Médecine Laennec, Lyon, France) for providing the 4T1-luc and 4T1 cell lines, respectively. We thank the animal facility staff at Biosciences and Biotechnology Institute of Grenoble (BIG) for animal care.

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  1. Univ. Grenoble Alpes, CEA, INSERM, Biosciences and Biotechnology Institute of Grenoble, Biology of Cancer and Infection UMR_S 1036, 38000, Grenoble, France

    Felicitas Rataj, Séverine Planel, Josiane Denis, Odile Filhol, Laurent Guyon, Jean-Jacques Feige & Nadia Cherradi

  2. Inovarion, Paris, France

    Caroline Roelants

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Rataj, F., Planel, S., Denis, J. et al. Targeting AU-rich element-mediated mRNA decay with a truncated active form of the zinc-finger protein TIS11b/BRF1 impairs major hallmarks of mammary tumorigenesis. Oncogene 38, 5174–5190 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41388-019-0784-8

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