CD146, an epithelial-mesenchymal transition inducer, is associated with triple-negative breast cancer.
The epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) plays an important role in breast cancer metastasis, especially in the most aggressive and lethal subtype, "triple-negative breast cancer" (TNBC). Here, we report that CD146 is a unique activator of EMTs and significantly correlates with TNBC. In epithelial breast cancer cells, overexpression of CD146 down-regulated epithelial markers and up-regulated mesenchymal markers, significantly promoted cell migration and invasion, and induced cancer stem cell-like properties. We further found that RhoA pathways positively regulated CD146-induced EMTs via the key EMT transcriptional factor Slug. An orthotopic breast tumor model demonstrated that CD146-overexpressing breast tumors showed a poorly differentiated phenotype and displayed increased tumor invasion and metastasis. We confirmed these findings by conducting an immunohistochemical analysis of 505 human primary breast tumor tissues and found that CD146 expression was significantly associated with high tumor stage, poor prognosis, and TNBC. CD146 was expressed at abnormally high levels (68.9%), and was strongly associated with E-cadherin down-regulation in TNBC samples. Taken together, these findings provide unique evidence that CD146 promotes breast cancer progression by induction of EMTs via the activation of RhoA and up-regulation of Slug. Thus, CD146 could be a therapeutic target for breast cancer, especially for TNBC.
Protein and Peptide Pharmaceutical Laboratory, National Laboratory of Biomacromolecules, Institute of Biophysics,  Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101,  China.
Qiqun
Q
Zeng
Weidong
W
Li
Di
D
Lu
Zhenzhen
Z
Wu
Hongxia
H
Duan
Yongting
Y
Luo
Jing
J
Feng
Dongling
D
Yang
Li
L
Fu
Xiyun
X
Yan
D000328:Adult; D000818:Animals; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D051929:CD146 Antigen / Q000235:genetics*; D002460:Cell Line; D004285:Dogs; D058750:Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D005455:Fluorescent Antibody Technique; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D051379:Mice; D016513:Mice, SCID; D009361:Neoplasm Invasiveness; D009362:Neoplasm Metastasis; D034741:RNA, Small Interfering / Q000235:genetics; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D000071250:Snail Family Transcription Factors; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000378:metabolism; D014162:Transfection; D020742:rhoA GTP-Binding Protein / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism
D051929:CD146 Antigen; D034741:RNA, Small Interfering; C000604407:SNAI1 protein, human; C000604449:Snai2 protein, mouse; D000071250:Snail Family Transcription Factors; D014157:Transcription Factors; D020742:rhoA GTP-Binding Protein