1. Corticotropin Releasing Factor Receptors in breast cancer: Expression and activity in hormone-dependent growth in vitro
- Author
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Ioanna Balgkouranidou, George Kolios, Spyridon Dekavallas, Stavroula Baritaki, Maria Panagopoulou, Maria Lambropoulou, Christina Zarouchlioti, Maria Koureta, Makrina Karaglani, Artemis Papadaki-Anastasopoulou, and Ekaterini Chatzaki
- Subjects
Adult ,endocrine system ,Physiology ,medicine.drug_class ,medicine.medical_treatment ,Neuropeptide ,Fluorescent Antibody Technique ,030209 endocrinology & metabolism ,Breast Neoplasms ,Biology ,Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction ,Biochemistry ,Polymerase Chain Reaction ,Receptors, Corticotropin-Releasing Hormone ,03 medical and health sciences ,Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience ,0302 clinical medicine ,Endocrinology ,Breast cancer ,Cell surface receptor ,Cell Movement ,Cell Line, Tumor ,medicine ,Humans ,Receptor ,Aged ,Cell Proliferation ,Promoter ,Middle Aged ,medicine.disease ,Steroid hormone ,Estrogen ,Cancer research ,MCF-7 Cells ,hormones, hormone substitutes, and hormone antagonists ,030217 neurology & neurosurgery ,Hormone - Abstract
Corticotropin Releasing Factor (CRF) neuropeptides coordinate the stress response via two distinct membrane receptors (CRF-Rs). We have previously shown expression of both CRF-Rs in human breast cancer tissues. In the present study, we examined in vitro using the MCF-7 cell line model, the regulation of CRF-Rs expression and their signaling in hormone-dependent breast cancer growth. Our findings show that similarly to breast cancer biopsies, the predominant receptor type expressed in the cell line is CRF-R2α. The transcription of CRF-R1 and CRF-R2 is up and down-regulated respectively by exposure to estradiol (E2); however this effect seems not to be exerted at the level of promoter gene methylation, although in human breast cancer specimens, CRF-R1 methylation was found to be positively associated with the presence of steroid hormone receptors. Finally, we showed that specific activation of CRF-R2 increased the migration of MCF-7 cells and potentiated an estrogen-inducing effect. Our data support an involvement of CRF-R signaling in breast cancer pathophysiology via a regulatory steroid-hormone interplay.
- Published
- 2019