SummaryOestrogen receptor-α (ER) is the defining and driving transcription factor in the majority of breast cancers and its target genes dictate cell growth and endocrine response, yet genomic understanding of ER function has been restricted to model systems1-3. We now map genome-wide ER binding events, by chromatin immunoprecipitation followed by high-throughput sequencing (ChIP-seq), in primary breast cancers from patients with different clinical outcome and in distant ER positive (ER+) metastases. We find that drug resistant cancers still have ER-chromatin occupancy, but that ER binding is a dynamic process, with the acquisition of unique ER binding regions in tumours from patients that are likely to relapse. The acquired, poor outcome ER regulatory regions observed in primary tumours reveal gene signatures that predict clinical outcome in ER+ disease exclusively. We find that the differential ER binding programme observed in tumours from patients with poor outcome is not due to the selection of a rare subpopulation of cells, but is due to the FoxA1-mediated reprogramming of ER binding on a rapid time scale. The parallel redistribution of ER and FoxA1 cis-regulatory elements in drug resistant cellular contexts is supported by histological co-expression of ER and FoxA1 in metastatic samples. By establishing transcription factor mapping in primary tumour material, we show that there is plasticity in ER binding capacity, with distinct combinations of cis-regulatory elements linked with the different clinical outcomes.
The androgen receptor (AR) is a key regulator of prostate growth and the principal drug target for the treatment of prostate cancer. Previous studies have mapped AR targets and identified some candidates which may contribute to cancer progression, but did not characterize AR biology in an integrated manner. In this study, we took an interdisciplinary approach, integrating detailed genomic studies with metabolomic profiling and identify an anabolic transcriptional network involving AR as the core regulator. Restricting flux through anabolic pathways is an attractive approach to deprive tumours of the building blocks needed to sustain tumour growth. Therefore, we searched for targets of the AR that may contribute to these anabolic processes and could be amenable to therapeutic intervention by virtue of differential expression in prostate tumours. This highlighted calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase kinase 2, which we show is overexpressed in prostate cancer and regulates cancer cell growth via its unexpected role as a hormone-dependent modulator of anabolic metabolism. In conclusion, it is possible to progress from transcriptional studies to a promising therapeutic target by taking an unbiased interdisciplinary approach.
Summary Progesterone receptor (PR) expression is employed as a biomarker of estrogen receptor-α (ERα) function and breast cancer prognosis. We now show that PR is not merely an ERα-induced gene target, but is also an ERα-associated protein that modulates its behaviour. In the presence of agonist ligands, PR associates with ERα to direct ERα chromatin binding events within breast cancer cells, resulting in a unique gene expression programme that is associated with good clinical outcome. Progesterone inhibited estrogen-mediated growth of ERα+ cell line xenografts and primary ERα+ breast tumour explants and had increased anti-proliferative effects when coupled with an ERα antagonist. Copy number loss of PgR is a common feature in ERα+ breast cancers, explaining lower PR levels in a subset of cases. Our findings indicate that PR functions as a molecular rheostat to control ERα chromatin binding and transcriptional activity, which has important implications for prognosis and therapeutic interventions.
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