title: HOXC9 Induces Phenotypic Switching between Proliferation and Invasion in Breast Cancer Cells.
abstract: HOX genes encode a family of transcriptional regulators that are involved in pattern formation and organogenesis during embryo development. In addition, these genes play important roles in adult tissues and some of the dysregulated HOX genes are associated with cancer development and metastasis. Like many other HOX genes, HOXC9 is aberrantly expressed in certain breast cancer cell lines and tissues; however, its specific functions in breast cancer progression were not investigated. In the present study, we demonstrated that HOXC9 overexpression in breast cancer cell lines such as MDA-MB-231 and MCF7 increased the invasiveness but reduced the proliferation of cells, resembling a phenotype switch from a proliferative to an invasive state. Furthermore, the reciprocal result was detected in MCF7 and BT474 cells when the expression level of HOXC9 was reduced with siRNA. The clinical impact of HOXC9 in breast cancer was interpreted from the survival analysis data, in which high HOXC9 expression led to considerably poorer disease-free survival and distant metastasis-free survival, especially in lymph node-positive patients. Together, the prognostic relevance of HOXC9 and the HOXC9-derived phenotypic switch between proliferative and invasive states in the breast cancer cell lines suggest that HOXC9 could be a prognostic marker in breast cancer patients with lymph node metastasis and a target for therapeutic intervention in malignant breast cancer.
authors.affiliation: 1. Department of Surgery, National Health Insurance Service Ilsan Hospital, Goyang 410-719, Korea;
authors.forename: Ho
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hur
authors.affiliation: 2. Department of Anatomy, Embryology Laboratory, and Brain Korea 21 PLUS project for Medical Science, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul 120-752, Korea.
authors.forename: Ji-Yeon
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: 2. Department of Anatomy, Embryology Laboratory, and Brain Korea 21 PLUS project for Medical Science, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul 120-752, Korea.
authors.forename: Seoyeon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: 2. Department of Anatomy, Embryology Laboratory, and Brain Korea 21 PLUS project for Medical Science, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul 120-752, Korea.
authors.forename: Jie Min
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: 2. Department of Anatomy, Embryology Laboratory, and Brain Korea 21 PLUS project for Medical Science, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul 120-752, Korea.
authors.forename: Anna E
authors.initials: AE
authors.lastname: Park
authors.affiliation: 2. Department of Anatomy, Embryology Laboratory, and Brain Korea 21 PLUS project for Medical Science, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul 120-752, Korea.
authors.forename: Myoung Hee
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Kim
keywords: HOXC9; breast cancer; invasion.; metastasis; proliferation