TitleSuppression of Ah Receptor (AhR) increases the aggressiveness of TNBC cells and 11-Cl-BBQ-activated AhR inhibits their growth.
Publication TypeJournal Article
Year of Publication2023
AuthorsElson DJ, Nguyen BD, Korjeff NA, Wilferd SF, Puig-Sanvicens V, Jang HSang, Bernales S, Chakravarty S, Belmar S, Ureta G, Finlay D, Plaisier CL, Kolluri SK
JournalBiochem Pharmacol
Volume215
Pagination115706
Date Published2023 Sep
ISSN1873-2968
KeywordsCell Line, Tumor, Cell Proliferation, Humans, Ligands, Receptors, Aryl Hydrocarbon, Triple Negative Breast Neoplasms
Abstract

Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) represents around 15% of the 2.26 million breast cancers diagnosed worldwide annually and has the worst outcome. Despite recent therapeutic advances, there remains a lack of targeted therapies for this breast cancer subtype. The aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) is a ligand-activated transcription factor with biological roles in regulating development, xenobiotic metabolism, cell cycle progression and cell death. AhR activation by select ligands can promote tumor suppression in multiple cancer types. AhR can negatively regulate the activity of different oncogenic signaling pathways and can directly upregulate tumor suppressor genes such as p27. To determine the role of AhR in TNBC, we generated AhR-deficient cancer cells and investigated the impact of AhR loss on TNBC cell growth phenotypes. We found that AhR-deficient MDA-MB-468 TNBC cells have increased proliferation and formed significantly more colonies compared to AhR expressing cells. These cells without AhR expression grew aggressively in vivo. To determine the molecular targets driving this phenotype, we performed transcriptomic profiling in AhR expressing and AhR knockout MDA-MB-468 cells and identified tyrosine receptor kinases, as well as other genes involved in proliferation, survival and clonogenicity that are repressed by AhR. In order to determine therapeutic targeting of AhR in TNBC, we investigated the anti-cancer effects of the novel AhR ligand 11-chloro-7H-benzimidazo[2,1-a]benzo[de]iso-quinolin-7-one (11-Cl-BBQ), which belongs to a class of high affinity, rapidly metabolized AhR ligands called benzimidazoisoquinolines (BBQs). 11-Cl-BBQ induced AhR-dependent cancer cell-selective growth inhibition and strongly inhibited colony formation in TNBC cells.

DOI10.1016/j.bcp.2023.115706
Alternate JournalBiochem Pharmacol
PubMed ID37506922
Grant ListT32 ES007060 / ES / NIEHS NIH HHS / United States