Identifying new therapeutic strategies for triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) patients is a priority as these patients are highly prone to relapse after chemotherapy. Here, we found that protein arginine methyltransferase 1 (PRMT1) is highly expressed in all breast cancer subtypes. PRMT1 depletion decreases cell survival by inducing DNA damage and apoptosis in various breast cancer cell lines. Transcriptomic analysis and chromatin immunoprecipitation revealed that PRMT1 regulates the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) and the Wnt signaling pathways, reported to be activated in TNBC. PRMT1 enzymatic activity is also required to stimulate the canonical Wnt pathway. Type I PRMT inhibitors decrease breast cancer cell proliferation and show anti-tumor activity in a TNBC xenograft model. These inhibitors display synergistic interactions with some chemotherapies used to treat TNBC patients as well as erlotinib, an EGFR inhibitor. Therefore, targeting PRMT1 in combination with these chemotherapies may improve existing treatments for TNBC patients.
Keywords: EGFR; PRMT1; Wnt signaling; breast cancer; drug combinations.