NEMO, a Transcriptional Target of Estrogen and Progesterone, Is Linked to Tumor Suppressor PML in Breast Cancer.

Abstract

The beneficial versus detrimental roles of estrogen plus progesterone (E+P) in breast cancer remains controversial. Here we report a beneficial mechanism of E+P treatment in breast cancer cells driven by transcriptional upregulation of the NFκB modulator NEMO, which in turn promotes expression of the tumor suppressor protein promyelocytic leukemia (PML). E+P treatment of patient-derived epithelial cells derived from ductal carcinoma <i>in situ</i> (DCIS) increased secretion of the proinflammatory cytokine IL6. Mechanistic investigations indicated that IL6 upregulation occurred as a result of transcriptional upregulation of <i>NEMO</i>, the gene that harbored estrogen receptor (ER) binding sites within its promoter. Accordingly, E+P treatment of breast cancer cells increased ER binding to the <i>NEMO</i> promoter, thereby increasing <i>NEMO</i> expression, NFκB activation, and IL6 secretion. In two mouse xenograft models of DCIS, we found that RNAi-mediated silencing of <i>NEMO</i> increased tumor invasion and progression. This seemingly paradoxical result was linked to NEMO-mediated regulation of NFκB and IL6 secretion, increased phosphorylation of STAT3 on Ser727, and increased expression of PML, a STAT3 transcriptional target. In identifying NEMO as a pivotal transcriptional target of E+P signaling in breast cancer cells, our work offers a mechanistic explanation for the paradoxical antitumorigenic roles of E+P in breast cancer by showing how it upregulates the tumor suppressor protein PML. <i>Cancer Res; 77(14); 3802-13. ©2017 AACR</i>.