Buenos Aires
Breast Cancer
Symposium

BA-BCS 2024

September 3 – 6, 2024

IFIBYNE Auditorium, FCEN-UBA

Poster No. 43

ANDROGEN RECEPTORS AND WNT PATHWAY AS THERAPEUTIC TARGETS IN ENDOCRINE RESISTANT BREAST CANCER MODELS

Marcela Coianis1, Virginia Figueroa1, Sebastian Giulianelli2, Claudia Lanari1, Caroline Lamb1

1.Instituto de biología y medicina experimental (IBYME), 2.Instituto de Biología de Organismos Marinos (IBIOMAR)-CENPAT .

Presenting Autor:
Coianis, Marcela

Instituto de biología y medicina experimental

Endocrine resistance is still a major clinical problem in the treatment of breast cancer. Evidence suggests that dysregulation of growth factor signaling pathways contributes to endocrine resistance. Fibroblast growth factor 2 (FGF2) consists of a secreted form and several nuclear high molecular weight variants (HMW-FGF2). We previously showed that hormone-resistant tumors express higher HMW-FGF2 levels than endocrine-responsive variants and that HMW-FGF2-overexpression, in endocrine-responsive cells, induced tumor progression. Here, we aimed to explore the mechanisms underlying HMW-FGF2-induced hormone resistance. We show that HMW-FGF2-overexpression in T47D cell lines, induced hormone resistance, a dysregulation of the WNT signaling pathway (RNA-seq) and a decrease in estrogen and progesterone receptors, along with an increase in androgen receptor (AR) expression. We used endocrine-resistant cell lines expressing elevated HMW-FGF2 levels and their endocrine-responsive counterparts to target the AR and/or WNT pathways. Enzalutamide (ENZA; AR antagonist) was inhibited while dihydrotestosterone (DHT; AR agonist) increased cell proliferation only in resistant cell lines. Moreover, ICG-001 (WNT inhibitor) alone or combined with DHT reduced cell proliferation. In vivo, ENZA and LGK-974 (WNT inhibitor) inhibited T47D-HMW-FGF2 tumor growth, and the combined treatment induced a greater inhibition together with a reduction in the number of lung metastasis. To assess if there was a direct effect of WNT pathway activation on AR regulation we performed ChIP assays on TCF/LEF sites within the AR promoter. ICG-001 reduced the recruitment of β-catenin in the AR promoter. Our results suggest that, in endocrine-resistant cell lines with increased HMW-FGF2, an upregulated WNT pathway may modulate AR expression which, in turn, may guide tumor growth. In conclusion, targeting the WNT and/or AR pathway may be a promising therapy for endocrine-resistant breast carcinomas.