Chemical genomics reveals inhibition of breast cancer lung metastasis by Ponatinib via c-Jun

• Main Authors: Wei Shao, Shasha Li, Lu Li, Kequan Lin, Xinhong Liu, Haiyan Wang, Huili Wang, Dong Wang
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: SpringerOpen 2018-04-01
• Series: Protein & Cell
• Subjects: anti-metastatic drug discovery; gene expression signature; high-throughput sequencing-based high-throughput screening; Ponatinib; breast cancer lung metastasis; c-Jun
• Online Access: http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13238-018-0533-8
• ISSN: 1674-800X; 1674-8018

Abstract Metastasis is the leading cause of human cancer deaths. Unfortunately, no approved drugs are available for anti-metastatic treatment. In our study, high-throughput sequencing-based high-throughput screening (HTS2) and a breast cancer lung metastasis (BCLM)-associated gene signature were combined to discover anti-metastatic drugs. After screening of thousands of compounds, we identified Ponatinib as a BCLM inhibitor. Ponatinib significantly inhibited the migration and mammosphere formation of breast cancer cells in vitro and blocked BCLM in multiple mouse models. Mechanistically, Ponatinib represses the expression of BCLM-associated genes mainly through the ERK/c-Jun signaling pathway by inhibiting the transcription of JUN and accelerating the degradation of c-Jun protein. Notably, JUN expression levels were positively correlated with BCLM-associated gene expression and lung metastases in breast cancer patients. Collectively, we established a novel approach for the discovery of anti-metastatic drugs, identified Ponatinib as a new drug to inhibit BCLM and revealed c-Jun as a crucial factor and potential drug target for BCLM. Our study may facilitate the therapeutic treatment of BCLM as well as other metastases.