Cancers, Vol. 11, Pages 1967: Pannexin1 Is Associated with Enhanced Epithelial-To-Mesenchymal Transition in Human Patient Breast Cancer Tissues and in Breast Cancer Cell Lines

Cancers, Vol. 11, Pages 1967: Pannexin1 Is Associated with Enhanced Epithelial-To-Mesenchymal Transition in Human Patient Breast Cancer Tissues and in Breast Cancer Cell Lines Cancers doi: 10.3390/cancers11121967 Authors: Nour Jalaleddine Layal El-Hajjar Hassan Dakik Abdullah Shaito Jessica Saliba Rémi Safi Kazem Zibara Marwan El-Sabban Loss of connexin-mediated cell-cell communication is a hallmark of breast cancer progression. Pannexin1 (PANX1), a glycoprotein that shares structural and functional features with connexins and engages in cell communication with its environment, is highly expressed in breast cancer metastatic foci; however, PANX1 contribution to metastatic progression is still obscure. Here we report elevated expression of PANX1 in different breast cancer (BRCA) subtypes using RNA-seq data from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA). The elevated PANX1 expression correlated with poorer outcomes in TCGA BRCA patients. In addition, gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) revealed that epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) pathway genes correlated positively with PANX1 expression. Pharmacological inhibition of PANX1, in MDA-MB-231 and MCF-7 breast cancer cells, or genetic ablation of PANX1, in MDA-MB-231 cells, reverted the EMT phenotype, as evidenced by decreased expression of EMT markers. In addition, PANX1 inhibition or genetic ablation decreased the invasiveness of MDA-MB-231 cells. Our results suggest PANX1 overexpression in breast cancer is ...
Source: Cancers - Category: Cancer & Oncology Authors: Tags: Article Source Type: research