Myeloid cell leukemia-1 inversely correlates with glycogen synthase kinase-3β activity and associates with poor prognosis in human breast cancer

Myeloid cell leukemia-1 (Mcl-1), an antiapoptotic Bcl-2 family member, is overexpressed in many types of human cancer and associates with cell immortalization, malignant transformation, and chemoresistance. Glycogen synthase kinase-3β (GSK-3β), a key component of the Wnt signaling pathway, is involved in multiple physiologic processes such as protein synthesis, tumorigenesis, and apoptosis. Here, we report that expression of Mcl-1 was correlated with phosphorylated GSK-3β (p-GSK-3β) at Ser ⁹ (an inactivated form of GSK-3β) in multiple cancer cell lines and primary human cancer samples. In addition, Mcl-1 was strikingly linked with poor prognosis of human breast cancer, in which the high level of Mcl-1 was related to high tumor grade and poor survival of breast cancer patients. Furthermore, we found that activation of GSK-3β could down-regulate Mcl-1 and was required for proteasome-mediated Mcl-1 degradation. Under some physiologic conditions, such as UV irradiation, anticancer drug treatment, and inhibition of growth factor pathways, Mcl-1 was down-regulated through activation of GSK-3β. Our results indicate that Mcl-1 stabilization by GSK-3β inactivation could be involved in tumorigenesis and serve as a useful prognostic marker for human breast cancer.