Abstract
Cancer cells often acquire a constitutively active nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) program to promote survival, proliferation and metastatic potential by mechanisms that remain largely unknown. Extending observations from an immunologic setting, we demonstrate that microRNA-146a and microRNA-146b (miR-146a/b) when expressed in the highly metastatic human breast cancer cell line MDA-MB-231 function to negatively regulate NF-κB activity. Lentiviral-mediated expression of miR-146a/b significantly downregulated interleukin (IL)-1 receptor-associated kinase and TNF receptor-associated factor 6, two key adaptor/scaffold proteins in the IL-1 and Toll-like receptor signaling pathway, known to positively regulate NF-κB activity. Impaired NF-κB activity was evident from reduced phosphorylation of the NF-κB inhibitor IκBα, reduced NF-κB DNA-binding activity and suppressed expression of the NF-κB target genes IL-8, IL-6 and matrix metalloproteinase-9. Functionally, miR-146a/b-expressing MDA-MB-231 cells showed markedly impaired invasion and migration capacity relative to control cells. These findings implicate miR-146a/b as a negative regulator of constitutive NF-κB activity in a breast cancer setting and suggest that modulating miR-146a/b levels has therapeutic potential to suppress breast cancer metastases.
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Acknowledgements
This work was supported in part by NIH grants R01-CA36773, P01-AG025901, P50-CA58207 and R37-AG09909 as well as Hazel P Munroe memorial funding to the Buck Institute.
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Bhaumik, D., Scott, G., Schokrpur, S. et al. Expression of microRNA-146 suppresses NF-κB activity with reduction of metastatic potential in breast cancer cells. Oncogene 27, 5643–5647 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1038/onc.2008.171
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/onc.2008.171
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