TY - JOUR
T1 - Fibroblast subtypes regulate responsiveness of luminal breast cancer to estrogen
AU - Brechbuhl, Heather M.
AU - Finlay-Schultz, Jessica
AU - Yamamoto, Tomomi M.
AU - Gillen, Austin E.
AU - Cittelly, Diana M.
AU - Tan, Aik Choon
AU - Sams, Sharon B.
AU - Pillai, Manoj M.
AU - Elias, Anthony D.
AU - Robinson, William A.
AU - Sartorius, Carol A.
AU - Kabos, Peter
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported in part by NIH (NCI CA164048 and CA205044 to P. Kabos, HL104070 to M. Pillai, and CA140985 to C. Sartorius), Grohne Fund for Stem Cell Research for Breast Cancer (to P. Kabos), and the Cancer League of Colorado (to P. Kabos). Additional support was provided in part by the University of Colorado Cancer Center's Flow Cytometry Shared Resource funded by NCI grant P30CA046934.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2016 American Association for Cancer Research.
PY - 2017/4/1
Y1 - 2017/4/1
N2 - Purpose: Antiendocrine therapy remains the most effective treatment for estrogen receptor-positive (ER+) breast cancer, but development of resistance is a major clinical complication. Effective targeting of mechanisms that control the loss of ER dependency in breast cancer remains elusive. We analyzed breast cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAF), the largest component of the tumor microenvironment, as a factor contributing to ER expression levels and antiendocrine resistance. Experimental Design: Tissues from patients with ER+ breast cancer were analyzed for the presence of CD146-positive (CD146pos) and CD146-negative (CD146neg) fibroblasts. ER-dependent proliferation and tamoxifen sensitivity were evaluated in ER+ tumor cells cocultured with CD146pos or CD146neg fibroblasts. RNA sequencing was used to develop a highconfidence gene signature that predicts for disease recurrence in tamoxifen-treated patients with ER+ breast cancer. Results: We demonstrate that ER+ breast cancers contain two CAF subtypes defined by CD146 expression. CD146neg CAFs suppress ER expression in ER+ breast cancer cells, decrease tumor cell sensitivity to estrogen, and increase tumor cell resistance to tamoxifen therapy. Conversely, the presence of CD146pos CAFs maintains ER expression in ER+ breast cancer cells and sustains estrogen-dependent proliferation and sensitivity to tamoxifen. Conditioned media from CD146pos CAFs with tamoxifen-resistant breast cancer cells are sufficient to restore tamoxifen sensitivity. Gene expression profiles of patient breast tumors with predominantly CD146neg CAFs correlate with inferior clinical response to tamoxifen and worse patient outcomes. Conclusions: Our data suggest that CAF composition contributes to treatment response and patient outcomes in ER+ breast cancer and should be considered a target for drug development.
AB - Purpose: Antiendocrine therapy remains the most effective treatment for estrogen receptor-positive (ER+) breast cancer, but development of resistance is a major clinical complication. Effective targeting of mechanisms that control the loss of ER dependency in breast cancer remains elusive. We analyzed breast cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAF), the largest component of the tumor microenvironment, as a factor contributing to ER expression levels and antiendocrine resistance. Experimental Design: Tissues from patients with ER+ breast cancer were analyzed for the presence of CD146-positive (CD146pos) and CD146-negative (CD146neg) fibroblasts. ER-dependent proliferation and tamoxifen sensitivity were evaluated in ER+ tumor cells cocultured with CD146pos or CD146neg fibroblasts. RNA sequencing was used to develop a highconfidence gene signature that predicts for disease recurrence in tamoxifen-treated patients with ER+ breast cancer. Results: We demonstrate that ER+ breast cancers contain two CAF subtypes defined by CD146 expression. CD146neg CAFs suppress ER expression in ER+ breast cancer cells, decrease tumor cell sensitivity to estrogen, and increase tumor cell resistance to tamoxifen therapy. Conversely, the presence of CD146pos CAFs maintains ER expression in ER+ breast cancer cells and sustains estrogen-dependent proliferation and sensitivity to tamoxifen. Conditioned media from CD146pos CAFs with tamoxifen-resistant breast cancer cells are sufficient to restore tamoxifen sensitivity. Gene expression profiles of patient breast tumors with predominantly CD146neg CAFs correlate with inferior clinical response to tamoxifen and worse patient outcomes. Conclusions: Our data suggest that CAF composition contributes to treatment response and patient outcomes in ER+ breast cancer and should be considered a target for drug development.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85016953435&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-15-2851
DO - 10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-15-2851
M3 - Article
C2 - 27702820
AN - SCOPUS:85016953435
SN - 1078-0432
VL - 23
SP - 1710
EP - 1721
JO - Clinical Cancer Research
JF - Clinical Cancer Research
IS - 7
ER -