Proteotranscriptomic Profiling of 231-BR Breast Cancer Cells: Identification of Potential Biomarkers and Therapeutic Targets for Brain Metastasis.

Brain metastases are a devastating consequence of cancer and currently there are no specific biomarkers or therapeutic targets for risk prediction, diagnosis, and treatment. Here the proteome of the brain metastatic breast cancer cell line 231-BR has been compared with that of the parental cell line MDA-MB-231, which is also metastatic but has no organ selectivity. Using SILAC and nanoLC-MS/MS, 1957 proteins were identified in reciprocal labeling experiments and 1584 were quantified in the two cell lines. A total of 152 proteins were confidently determined to be up- or down-regulated by more than twofold in 231-BR. Of note, 112/152 proteins were decreased as compared with only 40/152 that were increased, suggesting that down-regulation of specific proteins is an important part of the mechanism underlying the ability of breast cancer cells to metastasize to the brain. When matched against transcriptomic data, 43% of individual protein changes were associated with corresponding changes in mRNA, indicating that the transcript level is a limited predictor of protein level. In addition, differential miRNA analyses showed that most miRNA changes in 231-BR were up- (36/45) as compared with down-regulations (9/45). Pathway analysis revealed that proteome changes were mostly related to cell signaling and cell cycle, metabolism and extracellular matrix remodeling. The major protein changes in 231-BR were confirmed by parallel reaction monitoring mass spectrometry and consisted in increases (by more than fivefold) in the matrix metalloproteinase-1, ephrin-B1, stomatin, myc target-1, and decreases (by more than 10-fold) in transglutaminase-2, the S100 calcium-binding protein A4, and l-plastin. The clinicopathological significance of these major proteomic changes to predict the occurrence of brain metastases, and their potential value as therapeutic targets, warrants further investigation.

Sortilin is associated with breast cancer aggressiveness and contributes to tumor cell adhesion and invasion.

The neuronal membrane protein sortilin has been reported in a few cancer cell lines, but its expression and impact in human tumors is unclear. In this study, sortilin was analyzed by immunohistochemistry in a series of 318 clinically annotated breast cancers and 53 normal breast tissues. Sortilin was detected in epithelial cells, with increased levels in cancers, as compared to normal tissues (p = 0.0088). It was found in 79% of invasive ductal carcinomas and 54% of invasive lobular carcinomas (p < 0.0001). There was an association between sortilin expression and lymph node involvement (p = 0.0093), suggesting a relationship with metastatic potential. In cell culture, sortilin levels were higher in cancer cell lines compared to non-tumorigenic breast epithelial cells and siRNA knockdown of sortilin inhibited cancer cell adhesion, while proliferation and apoptosis were not affected. Breast cancer cell migration and invasion were also inhibited by sortilin knockdown, with a decrease in focal adhesion kinase and SRC phosphorylation. In conclusion, sortilin participates in breast tumor aggressiveness and may constitute a new therapeutic target against tumor cell invasion.