Hyaluronan-CD44 Interaction Activates Stem Cell Marker Nanog, Stat-3-mediated MDR1 Gene Expression, and Ankyrin-regulated Multidrug Efflux in Breast and Ovarian Tumor Cells*
- Department of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, and Endocrine Unit, Veterans Affairs Medical Center, San Francisco, California 94121
- 1 A Veterans Affairs Research Career Scientist. To whom correspondence and reprint requests should be addressed: Endocrine Unit (111N), Dept. of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, and Veterans Affairs Medical Center, 4150 Clement St., San Francisco, CA 94121. Tel.: 415-221-4810 (Ext. 3321); Fax: 415-383-1638; E-mail: lilly.bourguignon{at}ucsf.edu.
Abstract
Hyaluronan (HA) is a major glycosaminoglycan in the extracellular matrix whose expression is tightly linked to multidrug resistance and tumor progression. In this study we investigated HA-induced interaction between CD44 (a HA receptor) and Nanog (an embryonic stem cell transcription factor) in both human breast tumor cells (MCF-7 cells) and human ovarian tumor cells (SK-OV-3.ipl cells). Using a specific primer pair to amplify Nanog by reverse transcriptase-PCR, we detected the expression of Nanog transcript in both tumor cell lines. In addition, our results reveal that HA binding to these tumor cells promotes Nanog protein association with CD44 followed by Nanog activation and the expression of pluripotent stem cell regulators (e.g. Rex1 and Sox2). Nanog also forms a complex with the “signal transducer and activator of transcription protein 3” (Stat-3) in the nucleus leading to Stat-3-specific transcriptional activation and multidrug transporter, MDR1 (P-glycoprotein) gene expression. Furthermore, we observed that HA-CD44 interaction induces ankyrin (a cytoskeletal protein) binding to MDR1 resulting in the efflux of chemotherapeutic drugs (e.g. doxorubicin and paclitaxel (Taxol)) and chemoresistance in these tumor cells. Overexpression of Nanog by transfecting tumor cells with Nanog cDNA stimulates Stat-3 transcriptional activation, MDR1 overexpression, and multidrug resistance. Down regulation of Nanog signaling or ankyrin function (by transfecting tumor cells with Nanog small interfering RNA or ankyrin repeat domain cDNA) not only blocks HA/CD44-mediated tumor cell behaviors but also enhances chemosensitivity. Taken together, these findings suggest that targeting HA/CD44-mediated Nanog-Stat-3 signaling pathways and ankyrin/cytoskeleton function may represent a novel approach to overcome chemotherapy resistance in some breast and ovarian tumor cells displaying stem cell marker properties during tumor progression.
Footnotes
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↵2 The abbreviations used are: HA, hyaluronan; MTT, 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide; ANOVA, analysis of variance; P-gp, P-glycoprotein; ARD, ankyrin repeat domain; Q-PCR, quantitative PCR; RT, reverse transcriptase; siRNA, small interfering RNA; ECM, extracellular matrix; ES, embryonic stem; SIE, sis-inducible element.
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↵* This work was supported, in whole or in part, by National Institutes of Health Grants R01 CA66163, R01 CA78633, and P01 AR39448 from the USPHS. This work was also supported by a Veterans Affairs Merit Review grant and a Department of Defense grant. The costs of publication of this article were defrayed in part by the payment of page charges. This article must therefore be hereby marked “advertisement” in accordance with 18 U.S.C. Section 1734 solely to indicate this fact.
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- Received January 7, 2008.
- Revision received April 24, 2008.
- The American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Inc.
