LMTK3 confers chemo-resistance in breast cancer

Oncogene. 2018 Jun;37(23):3113-3130. doi: 10.1038/s41388-018-0197-0. Epub 2018 Mar 15.

Abstract

Lemur tyrosine kinase 3 (LMTK3) is an oncogenic kinase that is involved in different types of cancer (breast, lung, gastric, colorectal) and biological processes including proliferation, invasion, migration, chromatin remodeling as well as innate and acquired endocrine resistance. However, the role of LMTK3 in response to cytotoxic chemotherapy has not been investigated thus far. Using both 2D and 3D tissue culture models, we found that overexpression of LMTK3 decreased the sensitivity of breast cancer cell lines to cytotoxic (doxorubicin) treatment. In a mouse model we showed that ectopic overexpression of LMTK3 decreases the efficacy of doxorubicin in reducing tumor growth. Interestingly, breast cancer cells overexpressing LMTK3 delayed the generation of double strand breaks (DSBs) after exposure to doxorubicin, as measured by the formation of γH2AX foci. This effect was at least partly mediated by decreased activity of ataxia-telangiectasia mutated kinase (ATM) as indicated by its reduced phosphorylation levels. In addition, our RNA-seq analyses showed that doxorubicin differentially regulated the expression of over 700 genes depending on LMTK3 protein expression levels. Furthermore, these genes were found to promote DNA repair, cell viability and tumorigenesis processes / pathways in LMTK3-overexpressing MCF7 cells. In human cancers, immunohistochemistry staining of LMTK3 in pre- and post-chemotherapy breast tumor pairs from four separate clinical cohorts revealed a significant increase of LMTK3 following both doxorubicin and docetaxel based chemotherapy. In aggregate, our findings show for the first time a contribution of LMTK3 in cytotoxic drug resistance in breast cancer.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Intramural
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Antineoplastic Agents / pharmacology
  • Ataxia Telangiectasia Mutated Proteins / metabolism
  • Breast Neoplasms / drug therapy*
  • Breast Neoplasms / pathology
  • DNA Breaks, Double-Stranded / drug effects
  • Docetaxel / pharmacology
  • Doxorubicin / pharmacology
  • Drug Resistance, Neoplasm / drug effects
  • Drug Resistance, Neoplasm / physiology*
  • Female
  • Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic / drug effects*
  • Histones / metabolism
  • Humans
  • Membrane Proteins / genetics
  • Membrane Proteins / metabolism*
  • Mice, Nude
  • Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases / genetics
  • Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases / metabolism*
  • Tumor Cells, Cultured
  • Xenograft Model Antitumor Assays

Substances

  • Antineoplastic Agents
  • H2AX protein, human
  • Histones
  • Membrane Proteins
  • Docetaxel
  • Doxorubicin
  • ATM protein, human
  • Ataxia Telangiectasia Mutated Proteins
  • LMTK3 protein, human
  • Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases