Vitamin D receptor regulates autophagy in the normal mammary gland and in luminal breast cancer cells.

ABSTRACT: Women in North America have a one in eight lifetime risk of developing breast cancer (BC), and a significant proportion of these individuals will develop recurrent BC and will eventually succumb to the disease. Metastatic, therapy-resistant BC cells are refractory to cell death induced by multiple stresses. Here, we document that the vitamin D receptor (VDR) acts as a master transcriptional regulator of autophagy. Activation of the VDR by vitamin D induces autophagy and an autophagic transcriptional signature in BC cells that correlates with increased survival in patients; strikingly, this signature is present in the normal mammary gland and is progressively lost in patients with metastatic BC. A number of epidemiological studies have shown that sufficient vitamin D serum levels might be p

SUBMITTER: Tavera-Mendoza LE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5358377 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature