Targeting of mutant-p53 and MYC as a novel strategy to inhibit oncogenic SPAG5 activity in triple negative breast cancer
Triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) is an aggressive disease which currently has no effective therapeutic targets and prominent biomarkers. The Sperm Associated antigen 5 (SPAG5) is a mitotic spindle associated protein with oncogenic function in several human cancers. In TNBC, increased SPAG5 expression has been associated with tumor progression, chemoresistance, relapse, and poor clinical outcome. Here we show that high SPAG5 expression in TNBC is regulated by coordinated activity of YAP, mutant p53 and MYC. Depletion of YAP or mutant p53 proteins reduced SPAG5 expression and the recruitment of MYC onto SPAG5 promoter. Targeting of MYC also reduced SPAG5 expression and concomitantly tumorigenicity of TNBC cells. These effects of MYC targeting were synergized with cytotoxic chemotherapy and markedly reduced TNBC oncogenicity in SPAG5-expression dependent manner. These results suggest that mutant p53-MYC-SPAG5 expression can be considered as bona fide predictors of patient's outcome, and reliable biomarkers for effective anticancer therapies.
Authors
- Sabrina Strano (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6341-4230)
- Frauke Goeman (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7803-8821)
- Giovanni Blandino (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6970-2241)
- Valeria Canu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9085-7320)
- Sima Lev (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2108-3330)
- Daniela Rutigliano
- Andrea Sacconi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8276-0438)
- Matteo Pallocca (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7756-3579)
- Claudio Pulito (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0921-6962)
- Sebastiano Vaccarella (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0005-1937-4699)
Institutions
- National Cancer Institute (MY)
- Istituti Fisioterapici Ospitalieri (IT)
- Institute for Experimental Endocrinology and Oncology (IT)
- Istituti di Ricovero e Cura a Carattere Scientifico (IT)
- National Research Council (IT)
- Weizmann Institute of Science (IL)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Cell Death and Disease
- Published
- 2024-08-20
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41419-024-06987-x
- Citations
- 7
- Primary Topic
- Hippo pathway signaling and YAP/TAZ
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 2.28
Funders
- Ministero della Salute
- Associazione Italiana per la Ricerca sul Cancro
- Ministero degli Affari Esteri e della Cooperazione Internazionale
- Agenzia Italiana del Farmaco, Ministero della Salute