Chicken ovalbumin upstream promoter transcription factor II in human breast carcinoma: possible regulator of lymphangiogenesis via vascular endothelial growth factor-C expression.
Chicken ovalbumin upstream promoter transcription factors (COUP-TF) are orphan members of the nuclear receptor superfamily and consist of COUP-TFI and COUP-TFII. COUP-TFI was reported to be overexpressed in human breast cancer and to promote estrogen-independent transcriptional activity of estrogen receptor alpha. COUP-TFII, however, has not been examined in the breast. Therefore, we carried out immunohistochemical analysis of COUP-TFII in human breast cancer in order to clarify its biological and clinical significance. We immunolocalized COUP-TFII in 119 human breast cancers and correlated the findings with various clinicopathological parameters. Fifty-nine percent of the cases were immunohistochemically positive for COUP-TFII. COUP-TFII positivity was correlated with poor clinical outcome, and a statistically significant correlation was detected between COUP-TFII and the following clinicopathological parameters: clinical stage, lymph node status, histological grade, and estrogen receptor alpha status. In addition, short interfering RNA-mediated knockdown of COUP-TFII in the breast carcinoma cell line MCF-7 decreased the level of vascular endothelial growth factor-C mRNA expression, which is a known inducer of lymphangiogenesis and lymph node metastasis. These results suggest that COUP-TFII is involved in the development of advanced human breast cancer.
Nagasaki
Shuji
S
Department of Pathology, Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine, 2-1 Seiryo-machi, Aoba-ku, Sendai, Miyagi, 980-8575, Japan.
Suzuki
Takashi
T
Miki
Yasuhiro
Y
Akahira
Jun-ichi
J
Shibata
Hirotaka
H
Ishida
Takanori
T
Ohuchi
Noriaki
N
Sasano
Hironobu
H
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D051837:COUP Transcription Factor II / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D047628:Estrogen Receptor alpha / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D005260:Female; D019084:Fluorescent Antibody Technique, Indirect; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D019394:Ki-67 Antigen / Q000378:metabolism; D042583:Lymphangiogenesis / Q000235:genetics*; D008875:Middle Aged; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000378:metabolism; D034741:RNA, Small Interfering / Q000378:metabolism; D042582:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor C / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D055815:Young Adult
D051837:COUP Transcription Factor II; D047628:Estrogen Receptor alpha; D019394:Ki-67 Antigen; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D034741:RNA, Small Interfering; D042582:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor C