Oral Presentation 26th Lorne Cancer Conference 2014

Understanding estrogen receptor transcription in breast cancer (#16)

Jason S Carroll 1
  1. University of Cambridge, Cambridge, CAMBS, United Kingdom

Estrogen Receptor (ER) is the defining feature of luminal breast cancers, where is functions as a transcription factor. The discovery of ER-DNA interaction regions from ER+ breast cancer cell lines has revealed that ER rarely associates with promoter regions of target genes and instead associates with enhancer elements significant distances from the target genes. The genomic mapping of ER binding events also revealed the enrichment of DNA motifs for Forkhead factors. The Forkhead protein FOXA1 (HNF3a) was subsequently shown to bind to ~half of the ER binding events in the genome and was required for ER to maintain interaction with DNA. We have extended on these findings to explore ER and FoxA1 functional interactions in breast cancer, with a specific focus on changes in binding dynamics that occur during endocrine resistance. We have utilized ChIP-seq in primary tumour material, coupled with functional analysis, to identify mechanisms that govern FoxA1-ER chromatin interactions and the variables that alter binding capacity. In addition, we have recently established a method for rapid unbiased discovery of protein interacting complexes, which we have applied to discover ER and FoxA1 associated proteins. We find an unexpected interaction between ER and progesterone receptor in ER+ breast cancer. We show that PR is a negative regulator of the ER complex, where it is important for modulating cellular growth. These findings help delineate the complexes that influence ER transcriptional activity and ultimately impinge on tumour progression and drug sensitivity.