Statins are cholesterol-lowering drugs with pleiotropic activities including inhibition of isoprenylation reactions and reduction of signals driving cell proliferation and survival responses. The objectives of this study were to examine the effects of statins on breast cancer cells, both in vitro and in vivo, and to begin to determine their mechanism of action. We evaluated the effects of statins on breast cancer cell growth, phosphoprotein signaling intermediates, survival/apoptosis regulators, cell cycle regulators, and activated transcription factors. We also examined the in vivo effect of statin administration in a mouse ErbB2 + breast cancer model. Only lipophilic statins had direct anticancer activity in vitro. Breast cancer cells with activated Ras or ErbB2 pathways seemed to be more sensitive than those overexpressing estrogen receptor, and this correlated with endogenous levels of activated nuclear factor KB (NF-KB). Key intermediates regulating cell survival by NF-KB activation, as well as cell proliferation by the mitogen activated protein kinase cascade, were among the earliest phosphoproteins influenced by statin treatment. These early effects were followed by declines in activator protein-1 and NF-KB activation and concordant changes in other mediators of proliferation and apoptosis. In vivo results showed that oral dosing of statins significantly inhibited the growth of a mouse mammary carcinoma. Lipophilic statins can exert direct anticancer activity in vitro by reducing proliferation and survival signals in susceptible breast cancer phenotypes. Tumor growth inhibition in vivo using a clinically relevant statin dose also seems to be associated with reduced tumor cell proliferation and survival. These findings provide supporting rationale for future statin trials in breast cancer patients.

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Biochemically active wheat thioredoxin h has been overexpressed in the endosperm of transgenic barley grain. Two DNA constructs containing the wheat thioredoxin h gene (wtrxh) were used for transformation; each contained wtrxh fused to an endospermspecific B1-hordein promoter either with or without a signal peptide sequence for targeting to the protein body. Twenty-two stable, independently transformed regenerable lines were obtained by selecting with the herbicide bialaphos to test for the presence of the bar herbicide resistance gene on a cotransformed plasmid; all were positive for this gene. The presence of wtrxh was confirmed in 20 lines by PCR analysis, and the identity and level of expression of wheat thioredoxin h was assessed by immunoblots. Although levels varied among the different transgenic events, wheat thioredoxin h was consistently highly expressed (up to 30-fold) in the transgenic grain. Transgenic lines transformed with the B1-hordein promoter with a signal peptide sequence produced a higher level of wheat thioredoxin h on average than those without a signal sequence. The overexpression of thioredoxin h in the endosperm of germinated grain effected up to a 4-fold increase in the activity of the starch debranching enzyme, pullulanase (limit dextrinase), the enzyme that specifically cleaves ␣-1,6 linkages in starch. These results raise the question of how thioredoxin h enhances the activity of pullulanase because it was found that the inhibitor had become inactive before the enzyme showed appreciable activity.

The overexpressed ErbB2/HER2 receptor is a clinically validated cancer target whose surface localization and internalization mechanisms remain poorly understood. Downregulation of the overexpressed 185-kDa ErbB2 receptor is rapidly (2-6 hours) induced by the HSP90 chaperone inhibitor geldanamycin (GA), whereas its downregulation and lysosomal degradation are more slowly (24 hours) induced by the proteasome inhibitor bortezomib/PS341. In PS341-treated SK-BR-3 cells, overexpressed ErbB2 coprecipitates with the E3 ubiquitin ligase c-Cbl and also with the deubiquitinating enzyme USP9x; moreover, siRNA downregulation of USP9x enhances PS341-induced ErbB2 downregulation. Because polyubiquitin linkages via lysine 48 (K48) or 63 (K63) can differentially address proteins for 26S proteasomal degradation or endosome trafficking to the lysosome, multiple reaction monitoring (MRM)/mass spectrometry (MS) and polyubiquitin linkage-specific antibodies were used to quantitatively track K48-linked and K63-linked ErbB2 polyubiquitination following either GA or PS341 treatment of SK-BR-3 cells. MRM/MS revealed that unlike the rapid, modest (4-fold to 8-fold), and synchronous GA induction of K48 and K63 polyubiquitinated ErbB2, PS341 produces a dramatic (20-fold to 40-fold) sequential increase in polyubiquitinated ErbB2 consistent with K48 polyubiquitination followed by K63 editing. Fluorescence microscopic imaging confirmed that PS341, but not GA, induces colocalization of K48-linked and K63-linked polyubiquitin with perinuclear lysosome-sequestered ErbB2. Thus, ErbB2 surface overexpression and recycling seem to depend on its polyubiquitination and deubiquitination; as well, the contrasting effects of PS341 and GA on ErbB2 receptor localization, polyubiquitination, and degradation point to alternate cytoplasmic trafficking likely regulated by different K48 and K63 polyubiquitin editing mechanisms.