TY - JOUR
T1 - Targeting lipocalin-2 in inflammatory breast cancer cells with small interference rna and small molecule inhibitors
AU - Santiago-Sánchez, Ginette S.
AU - Noriega-Rivera, Ricardo
AU - Hernández-O’farrill, Eliud
AU - Valiyeva, Fatma
AU - Quiñones-Diaz, Blanca
AU - Villodre, Emilly S.
AU - Debeb, Bisrat G.
AU - Rosado-Albacarys, Andrea
AU - Vivas-Mejía, Pablo E.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
PY - 2021/8/2
Y1 - 2021/8/2
N2 - Inflammatory Breast Cancer (IBC) is an aggressive form of invasive breast cancer, highly metastatic, representing 2–4% of all breast cancer cases in the United States. Despite its rare nature, IBC is responsible for 7–10% of all breast cancer deaths, with a 5-year survival rate of 40%. Thus, targeted and effective therapies against IBC are needed. Here, we proposed Lipocalin-2 (LCN2)—a secreted glycoprotein aberrantly abundant in different cancers—as a plausible target for IBC. In immunoblotting, we observed higher LCN2 protein levels in IBC cells than non-IBC cells, where the LCN2 levels were almost undetectable. We assessed the biological effects of targeting LCN2 in IBC cells with small interference RNAs (siRNAs) and small molecule inhibitors. siRNA-mediated LCN2 silencing in IBC cells significantly reduced cell proliferation, viability, migration, and invasion. Furthermore, LCN2 silencing promoted apoptosis and arrested the cell cycle progression in the G0/G1 to S phase transition. We used in silico analysis with a library of 25,000 compounds to identify potential LCN2 inhibitors, and four out of sixteen selected compounds significantly decreased cell proliferation, cell viability, and the AKT phosphorylation levels in SUM149 cells. Moreover, ectopically expressing LCN2 MCF7 cells, treated with two potential LCN2 inhibitors (ZINC00784494 and ZINC00640089) showed a significant decrease in cell proliferation. Our findings suggest LCN2 as a promising target for IBC treatment using siRNA and small molecule inhibitors.
AB - Inflammatory Breast Cancer (IBC) is an aggressive form of invasive breast cancer, highly metastatic, representing 2–4% of all breast cancer cases in the United States. Despite its rare nature, IBC is responsible for 7–10% of all breast cancer deaths, with a 5-year survival rate of 40%. Thus, targeted and effective therapies against IBC are needed. Here, we proposed Lipocalin-2 (LCN2)—a secreted glycoprotein aberrantly abundant in different cancers—as a plausible target for IBC. In immunoblotting, we observed higher LCN2 protein levels in IBC cells than non-IBC cells, where the LCN2 levels were almost undetectable. We assessed the biological effects of targeting LCN2 in IBC cells with small interference RNAs (siRNAs) and small molecule inhibitors. siRNA-mediated LCN2 silencing in IBC cells significantly reduced cell proliferation, viability, migration, and invasion. Furthermore, LCN2 silencing promoted apoptosis and arrested the cell cycle progression in the G0/G1 to S phase transition. We used in silico analysis with a library of 25,000 compounds to identify potential LCN2 inhibitors, and four out of sixteen selected compounds significantly decreased cell proliferation, cell viability, and the AKT phosphorylation levels in SUM149 cells. Moreover, ectopically expressing LCN2 MCF7 cells, treated with two potential LCN2 inhibitors (ZINC00784494 and ZINC00640089) showed a significant decrease in cell proliferation. Our findings suggest LCN2 as a promising target for IBC treatment using siRNA and small molecule inhibitors.
KW - Docking
KW - IBC
KW - Inflammatory breast cancer
KW - LCN2
KW - Lipocalin-2
KW - SiRNA
KW - Small molecule inhibitors
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85112061497&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85112061497&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3390/ijms22168581
DO - 10.3390/ijms22168581
M3 - Article
C2 - 34445288
AN - SCOPUS:85112061497
SN - 1661-6596
VL - 22
JO - International journal of molecular sciences
JF - International journal of molecular sciences
IS - 16
M1 - 8581
ER -