title: β-catenin-independent WNT signaling in basal-like breast cancer and brain metastasis.
abstract: A role of WNT signaling for primary breast cancers of the basal-like subtype and as a predictor of brain metastasis has been described. However, a responsible WNT ligand has not been identified. To further clarify this question, we comparatively investigated 22 human breast cancer brain metastases as well as the highly invasive human breast cancer cell line MDA-MB-231 and the weakly motile MCF-7 as models for the basal-like and the luminal A subtype. WNT5A and B were found overexpressed in MDA-MB-231 cells as compared with MCF-7. This corresponded to reduction of MDA-MB-231 invasiveness by WNT inhibitors, whereas MCF-7 invasion was enhanced by recombinant WNT5B and abolished by WNT and Jun-N-terminal kinase antagonists. Expression and subcellular distribution of β-catenin remained uninfluenced. Consistently, β-catenin was not localized in the nuclei of brain metastases while there was strong nuclear c-Jun staining. Similar to MDA-MB-231, metastases showed expression of WNT5A/B and the alternative WNT receptors ROR1 and 2. These findings were validated using external gene expression datasets (Gene Expression Omnibus) of different breast cancer subtypes and brain metastases. Hierarchical cluster analysis yielded a close relation between basal-like cancers and brain metastases. Gene set enrichment analyses confirmed WNT pathway enrichment not only in basal-like primaries but also in cerebral metastases of all subtypes. In conclusion, WNT signaling seems highly relevant for basal-like and other subtypes of breast cancers metastasizing into the brain. β-catenin-independent WNT signaling, presumably via ROR1-2, plays a major role in this context.
authors.affiliation: Department of Hematology/Oncology, University of Göttingen, 37099 Göttingen, Germany.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Klemm
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bleckmann
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Siam
authors.forename: H N
authors.initials: HN
authors.lastname: Chuang
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Rietkötter
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Behme
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Schulz
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Schaffrinski
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Schindler
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Trümper
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Kramer
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Beissbarth
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Stadelmann
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Binder
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Pukrop
mesh_terms: D017209:Apoptosis; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D001932:Brain Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics* / Q000556:secondary; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology; D002280:Basal Cell Carcinoma / Q000235:genetics / Q000473:pathology; D002448:Cell Adhesion; D002465:Cell Movement; D049109:Cell Proliferation; D005260:Female; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; D006801:Humans; D020411:Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis; D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000235:genetics; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D051153:Wnt Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D000071818:Wnt-5a Protein; D051176:beta Catenin / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins; D012333:RNA, Messenger; C085389:WNT5A protein, human; C435831:WNT5B protein, human; D051153:Wnt Proteins; D000071818:Wnt-5a Protein; D051176:beta Catenin