Triple-negative subtype of breast cancer (TNBC) is hallmarked by frequent disease relapse and shows highest mortality rate. Although PD-1/PD-L1 immune checkpoint blockades have recently shown promisin Show more
Triple-negative subtype of breast cancer (TNBC) is hallmarked by frequent disease relapse and shows highest mortality rate. Although PD-1/PD-L1 immune checkpoint blockades have recently shown promising clinical benefits, the overall response rate remains largely insufficient. Hence, alternative therapeutic approaches are warranted. Given the immunosuppressive properties of CD73-mediated adenosine release, CD73 blocking approaches are emerging as attractive strategies in cancer immunotherapy. Understanding the precise mechanism regulating the expression of CD73 is required to develop effective anti-CD73-based therapy. Our previous observations demonstrate that the transcription factors driving epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT-TF) can regulate the expression of several inhibitory immune checkpoints. Here we analyzed the role of the EMT-TF SNAI1 in the regulation of CD73 in TNBC cells. We found that doxycycline-driven SNAI1 expression in the epithelial -like TNBC cell line MDA-MB-468 results in CD73 upregulation by direct binding to the CD73 proximal promoter. SNAI1-dependent upregulation of CD73 leads to increased production and release of extracellular adenosine by TNBC cells and contributes to the enhancement of TNBC immunosuppressive properties. Our data are validated in TNBC samples by showing a positive correlation between the mRNA expression of CD73 and SNAI1. Overall, our results reveal a new CD73 regulation mechanism in TNBC that participates in TNBC-mediated immunosuppression and paves the way for developing new treatment opportunities for CD73-positive TNBC. Show less
A role of the nuclear receptor Rev-erbalpha in the regulation of transcription pathways involving other nuclear receptors is emerging. Indeed, Rev-erbalpha is a negative regulator of transcription by Show more
A role of the nuclear receptor Rev-erbalpha in the regulation of transcription pathways involving other nuclear receptors is emerging. Indeed, Rev-erbalpha is a negative regulator of transcription by binding to overlapping response elements shared with various nuclear receptors, including the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors and the retinoid-related orphan receptor alpha (RORalpha). Here, we show that Rev-erbalpha is expressed in primary human macrophages and that its expression is induced by synthetic ligands for the liver X receptors (LXRs), which control cholesterol homeostasis, inflammation, and the immune response in macrophages. LXRalpha binds to a specific response element in the human Rev-erbalpha promoter, thus inducing Rev-erbalpha transcriptional expression. Interestingly, Rev-erbalpha does not influence basal or LXR-regulated cholesterol homeostasis. However, Rev-erbalpha overexpression represses the induction of toll-like receptor (TLR)-4 by LXR agonists, whereas Rev-erbalpha silencing by short interfering RNA results in enhanced TLR-4 expression upon LXR activation. Electrophoretic mobility shift, chromatin immunoprecipitation, and transient transfection experiments demonstrate that Rev-erbalpha represses human TLR-4 promoter activity by binding as a monomer to a RevRE site overlapping with the LXR response element site in the TLR-4 promoter. These data identify Rev-erbalpha as a new LXR target gene, inhibiting LXR-induction of TLR-4 in a negative transcriptional feedback loop, but not cholesterol homeostasis gene expression. Show less
The newly identified apolipoprotein A5 (APOA5), selectively expressed in the liver, is a crucial determinant of plasma triglyceride levels. Because elevated plasma triglyceride concentrations constitu Show more
The newly identified apolipoprotein A5 (APOA5), selectively expressed in the liver, is a crucial determinant of plasma triglyceride levels. Because elevated plasma triglyceride concentrations constitute an independent risk factor for cardiovascular diseases, it is important to understand how the expression of this gene is regulated. In the present study, we identified the retinoic acid receptor-related orphan receptor-alpha (RORalpha) as a regulator of human APOA5 gene expression. Using electromobility shift assays, we first demonstrated that RORalpha1 and RORalpha4 proteins can bind specifically to a direct repeat 1 site present at the position -272/-260 in the APOA5 gene promoter. In addition, using transient cotransfection experiments in HepG2 and HuH7 cells, we demonstrated that both RORalpha1 and RORalpha4 strongly increase APOA5 promoter transcriptional activity in a dose-dependent manner. Finally, adenoviral overexpression of hRORalpha in HepG2 cells led to enhanced hAPOA5 mRNA accumulation. We show that the homologous region in mouse apoa5 promoter is not functional. Moreover, we show that in staggerer mice, apoa5 gene is not affected by RORalpha. These findings identify RORalpha1 and RORalpha4 as transcriptional activators of human APOA5 gene expression. These data suggest an additional important physiological role for RORalpha in the regulation of genes involved in lipid homeostasis and probably in the development of atherosclerosis. Show less