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Circular RNA circTNK2 contributes to immune evasion and acts as a nanotherapeutic target in tamoxifen-resistant ER-positive breast cancer

ABSTRACT: circTNK2, a circular RNA, is significantly overexpressed in tamoxifen-resistant breast cancer tissues and is linked to poor prognosis. circTNK2 encodes a novel 487-amino acid protein, termed C-TNK2-487aa, which inhibits the recruitment of natural killer (NK) cells. Mechanistic studies reveal that C-TNK2-487aa interacts with STAT3 and promotes its phosphorylation in ER-positive breast cancer cells. The increased phosphorylated STAT3 then competes with STAT1 binding, inhibiting the formation of STAT1 homodimers required for CXCL10 transcription, ultimately leading to immune evasion. Additionally, circTNK2 binds to SRSF1 and promotes tamoxifen resistance and breast cancer cell proliferation. Co-delivery of circTNK2 antisense oligonucleotides (ASO) and CXCL10 plasmid DNA mediated by BC-targeting ZIF-8 nanoparticles markedly suppresses breast cancer growth, reverses tamoxifen resistance, and increases tumor infiltration of CD56+ NK cells in vivo. These findings underscore the critical role of the circTNK2-encoded peptide in tamoxifen resistance and immune evasion, providing a therapeutic vulnerability in treating tamoxifen-resistant breast cancer.

ORGANISM(S): Homo sapiens

PROVIDER: GSE282082 | GEO | 2025/11/20

REPOSITORIES: GEO

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Project description:Resistance to tamoxifen is a major challenge in the treatment of estrogen receptor positive breast cancer. Acquired resistance to drug involves multilayered genetic and epigenetic regulation . The oncogene EZH2 plays significant role in the development of resistance against tamoxifen, widely used in the treatment of breast cancer. Inhibition of EZH2 has proven to reverse the tamoxifen resistance breast cancer cells back to the sensitive state. The molecular mechanism through which EZH2 inhibition triggers its effects are not known.This study was conducted to understand the global change in proteome profile of tamoxifen resistant MCF-7 breast cancer cells as a result of effect of EZH2 knockdown. Label Free Quantitative proteomics revealed a large number of proteins altered in acquired tamoxifen resistant cells compared to the sensitive cells. A total of 286 proteins were identified with normalized RT for each m/z out of which 86 proteins were upregulated by more than 1.3 fold and 98 proteins were down regulated by more than 1.3 fold in MCF-7 tamoxifen resistant breast cancer cells in comparison to the sensitive breast cancer cells. Upon EZH2 knockdown in tamoxifen resistant cells, a total of 115 proteins were found to be altered with 20 proteins upregulated by more than 1.3 fold and 49 proteins down regulated by more than 1.3 fold. Among the top upregulated proteins were L-lactate dehydrogenase A chain, Alpha and Gamma-enolase, Calreticulin, heat shock protein HSP-90-beta, Alpha-actinin-4, Elongation factor 1-alpha, Vimentin, Protein S100A6, Putative protein FAM10A5, Heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoprotein A1 and Keratin 1. In addition, 15 proteins were found to be down regulated in EZH2si transfected tamoxifen sensitive cells which otherwise were highlyup regulated in resistant cells in the presence of normal level of EZH2. This indicates a possible regulation of these molecules by EZH2 leading to loss of resistance. Our data unveils important molecular players downstream to EZH2 knockdown leading to regain of sensitivity to tamoxifen in acquired tamoxifen resistance.Thus, EZH2 seems to exert its effects through regulation of metabolism, epithelial to mesenchymal transition and protein synthesis & folding. Hence, targeting EZH2 or the molecules down the cascade might be helpful in reacquiring sensitivity to tamoxifen intamoxifen-resistant cells.

Project description:Tamoxifen, an antagonist to estrogen receptor (ER), is a first line drug used in breast cancer treatment. However, this therapy is complicated by the fact that a substantial number of patients exhibit either de novo or acquired resistance. To characterize the signaling mechanisms underlying the resistance to tamoxifen, we established a tamoxifen-resistant cell line by treating the MCF7 breast cancer cell line with tamoxifen for over 6 months. We showed that this cell line exhibited resistance to tamoxifen both in vitro and in vivo. In order to quantify the phosphorylation alterations associated with tamoxifen resistance, we performed SILAC-based quantitative phosphoproteomic profiling on the resistant and vehicle-treated sensitive cell lines where we identified >5,600 unique phosphopeptides. We found phosphorylation levels of 1,529 peptides were increased (>2 fold) and 409 peptides were decreased (<0.5-fold) in tamoxifen resistant cells compared to tamoxifen sensitive cells. Gene set enrichment analysis revealed that focal adhesion pathway was the top enriched signaling pathway activated in tamoxifen resistant cells. We observed hyperphosphorylation of the focal adhesion kinases FAK1 and FAK2 in the tamoxifen resistant cells. Of note, FAK2 was not only hyperphosphorylated but also transcriptionally upregulated in tamoxifen resistant cells. Suppression of FAK2 by specific siRNA knockdown could sensitize the resistant cells to the treatment of tamoxifen. We further showed that inhibiting FAK activity using the small molecule inhibitor PF562271 repressed cellular proliferation in vitro and tumor formation in vivo. More importantly, our survival analysis revealed that high expression of FAK2 significantly associated with short metastasis-free survival of ER-positive breast cancer patients treated with tamoxifen-based hormone therapy. Our studies suggest that FAK2 is a great potential target for the development of therapy for the treatment of hormone refractory breast cancers.

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Circular RNA circTNK2 contributes to immune evasion and acts as a nanotherapeutic target in tamoxifen-resistant ER-positive breast cancer

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