Journal of Experimental Pharmacology (Jan 2020)
TGF-β-Induced TMEPAI Attenuates the Response of Triple-Negative Breast Cancer Cells to Doxorubicin and Paclitaxel
Abstract
Bantari WK Wardhani, 1 Meidi Utami Puteri, 2 Yukihide Watanabe, 2 Melva Louisa, 3 Rianto Setiabudy, 3 Mitsuyasu Kato 2 1Doctoral Program in Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Universitas Indonesia, Jakarta, Indonesia; 2Department of Experimental Pathology, Graduate School of Comprehensive Human Sciences and Faculty of Medicine, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Japan; 3Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics, Faculty of Medicine, Universitas Indonesia, Jakarta, IndonesiaCorrespondence: Melva LouisaDepartment of Pharmacology and Therapeutics, Faculty of Medicine Universitas Indonesia, Jl Salemba Raya No. 6, Jakarta Pusat, Jakarta 10430, IndonesiaTel +62 21 31930481Email [email protected]: Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is a refractory type of breast cancer with poor prognosis and limited choice for treatment. Previous studies had shown that TNBC has high expressions of transmembrane prostate androgen-induced protein (TMEPAI). TMEPAI was known to be induced by TGF-β/Smad signaling and have tumorigenic functions that converting TGF-β from tumor suppressor to tumor promoter and inducing epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT). Therefore, we aimed to define the role of TMEPAI in triple-negative breast cancer cells treatment using several anti-cancers in the presence of TGF-β.Methods: TMEPAI-knock out (KO) was carried out in a triple-negative breast cancer cell, BT549. TMEPAI editing was developed using the CRISPR-Cas9 system using two combinations of sgRNA to remove exon 4 of the TMEPAI gene entirely. Genotyping and proteomic analysis were performed to check the establishment of the TMEPAI-KO cells. Wild type (WT) and KO cells were used to determine inhibitory concentration 50% (IC 50) of several anti-cancers: doxorubicin, cisplatin, paclitaxel, and bicalutamide in the presence of TGF-β treatment.Results: KO cells were successfully established by completely removing the TMEPAI gene, which was proven in genomic and proteomic analysis. Further, in TMEPAI-KO cells, we found a significant reduction of IC 50 for doxorubicin and paclitaxel, and minimal effects were seen for cisplatin and bicalutamide. Our findings suggest that TGF-β-induced TMEPAI attenuates the response of TNBC to doxorubicin and paclitaxel, but not to cisplatin and bicalutamide.Conclusion: TGF-β induced TMEPAI contributes to the reduced response of TNBC treatment to doxorubicin and paclitaxel, but minimal on cisplatin and bicalutamide. Further study is needed to confirm our findings in other growth factor-induced cells, as well as in in vivo model.Keywords: TMEPAI, TGF-β, doxorubicin, paclitaxel
