Evaluation of gene expression in breast tumor cells treated with azurine

Authors and affiliations:
Nuno Bernardes1,2, Ana Sofia Ribeiro2, Sofia Abreu1, André F Vieira2, Laura Carreto3, Manuel Santos3, Raquel Seruca2, Joana Paredes2 and Arsenio M Fialho1 1Institute for Biotechnology and Bioengineering, Center for Biological and Chemical Engineering, Instituto Superior Técnico, Lisbon, Portugal;

2Institute of Molecular Pathology and Immunology of the University of Porto (IPATIMUP), Porto, Portugal;

3Department of Biology and CESAM, University of Aveiro, Aveiro, Portugal

Abstract:
Azurin is a bacterial protein from Pseudomonas aeruginosa which exerts an inhibitory activity in cancer cells. In P-cadherin-overexpressing models, a bad prognosis marker in breast cancer increasing invasion and other malignant features, azurin decreases the invasion of cancer cells. We performed a microarray analysis to compare the expression profile of azurin treated cells with different P-cadherin expression levels. Azurin up-regulated apoptosis mediated by p53 protein, endocytosis and vesicle-mediated transport. In the contrary, in invasive MCF-7/AZ.Pcad cells, azurin decreased the expression of genes associated with cell surface receptors and signal transduction, as well as biological adhesion. Further, azurin decreased adhesion of cells to proteins from the Extracellular matrix (ECM) and altered protein expression of integrins α6, β4 and β1 and interfered with the ability of these cells to form mammospheres. Altogether, our results further enlighten the anti-cancer effects mediated by azurin in P-cadherin overexpression breast cancer models.

Journal:
The International Journal of Biochemistry & Cell Biology

Link:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24509127