Abstract
Purpose
The orphan, membrane-bound estrogen receptor (GPER) is expressed at high levels in a large fraction of breast cancer patients, and its expression is favorable for patients’ survival. We investigated the role of GPER as a potential tumor suppressor in MCF-7 and SK-BR-3 breast cancer cells.
Methods
The effect of GPER agonist G-1 in cell culture was used to determine whether GPER inhibit cell growth. The methylation status of GPER promoter was investigated by methylation-specific PCR.
Results
GPER-specific agonist G-1 inhibited breast cancer cell proliferation in concentration-dependent manner via induction of the cell cycle arrest in M-phase, enhanced phosphorylation of histone 3 and cell apoptosis. Analysis of the methylation status of the GPER promoter in MCF-7 and SK-BR-3 cells revealed that GPER expression is regulated by epigenetic mechanisms and GPER expression is inactivated by promoter methylation. Overall, our results are consistent with our recent findings in triple-negative breast cancer cells, and the cell surface expression of GPER makes it an excellent potential therapeutic target for non-triple-negative breast cancer.
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This work was supported by Deutsche Krebshilfe to AI.
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We declare that we have no conflict of interest.
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Weißenborn, C., Ignatov, T., Poehlmann, A. et al. GPER functions as a tumor suppressor in MCF-7 and SK-BR-3 breast cancer cells. J Cancer Res Clin Oncol 140, 663–671 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00432-014-1598-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00432-014-1598-2