| Abstract: | There is substantial evidence indicating that the WNT signaling pathway is activated in various cancer cell types including breast cancer. Previous studies reported that FH535, a small molecule inhibitor of the WNT signaling pathway, decreased growth of cancer cells but not normal fibroblasts, suggesting this pathway plays a role in tumor progression and metastasis. In this study, we tested FH535 as a potential inhibitor for malignant phenotypes of breast cancer cells including migration, invasion, and growth. FH535 significantly inhibited growth, migration, and invasion of triple negative (TN) breast cancer cell lines (MDA-MB231 and HCC38) in vitro. We demonstrate that FH535 was a potent growth inhibitor for TN breast cancer cell lines (HCC38 and MDA-MB-231) but not for other, non-TN breast cancer cell lines (MCF-7, T47D or SK-Br3) when cultured in three dimensional (3D) type I collagen gels. Western blotting analyses suggest that treatment of MDA-MB-231 cells with FH535 markedly inhibited the expression of NEDD9 but not activations of FAK, Src, or downstream targets such as p38 and Erk1/2. We demonstrated that NEDD9 was specifically associated with CSPG4 but not with β1 integrin or CD44 in MDA-MB-231 cells. Analyses of gene expression profiles in breast cancer tissues suggest that CSPG4 expression is higher in Basal-type breast cancers, many of which are TN, than any other subtypes. These results suggest not only a mechanism for migration and invasion involving the canonical WNT-signaling pathways but also novel strategies for treating patients who develop TN breast cancer. |
