Exploring Notch signaling pathways for breast cancer treatment

• Author / Creator

  Han, Jianxun

• Breast cancer is the most common cancer and the leading cause of cancer-related death among Canadian women. Despite improvements in treatment and early detection, there is still a need to develop novel therapies for breast cancer management. Aberrant Notch signaling is tumorigenic and is associated with poor clinical outcomes in breast cancer, as well as in several other types of cancer. Activation of Notch signaling requires γ-secretase-mediated Notch receptor cleavage. Thus, strategies to inhibit Notch signaling, including γ-secretase inhibition, are being evaluated for potential anti-tumor effects. The strongest justification for targeting Notch in breast cancer, and more specifically for using γ-secretase inhibitors, came from two studies that reported that the γ-secretase inhibitor (GSI) Z-LLNle-CHO inhibited the growth of breast cancer cells both in vitro and in vivo without causing significant side effects. In Chapter 2, we compared the enzymatic activities and cytotoxicity of Z-LLNle-CHO to those of two other specific GSIs and three proteasome inhibitors and demonstrated that the cytotoxicity of Z-LLNle-CHO in breast cancer cells is mediated by proteasome inhibition, not by γ-secretase inhibition. In Chapter 3, we characterized the protein complexes formed in breast cancer cells by the intracellular domains (NICD) of the four Notch paralogs. We found that the assembly of NICD protein complexes is dose-dependent and availability of MAML proteins becomes the limiting factor for continuous formation of NICD/RBPjκ/MAML transactivation complex. This suggests that the formation of some non-canonical NICD complex might occur preferentially at high levels of NICD, conditions under which aberrant Notch signaling induces tumorigenesis in breast cancer. Consequently, these non-canonical interactions might be good
  targets to specifically block oncogenic, but not physiological, Notch signaling. In addition, we found that the relative affinities of individual NICD paralogs to several known NICD-interacting proteins were different. This may account for the paralog-specific activities of Notch that have been previously reported. Together, these results may be of value for the development of new reagents to block Notch signaling for therapeutic benefit in breast cancer treatment.

• Subjects / Keywords

  • Notch signaling
  • Breast cancer

• Graduation date

  Fall 2010

• Type of Item

  Thesis

• Degree

  Doctor of Philosophy

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/R3D71C

• License

  This thesis is made available by the University of Alberta Libraries with permission of the copyright owner solely for non-commercial purposes. This thesis, or any portion thereof, may not otherwise be copied or reproduced without the written consent of the copyright owner, except to the extent permitted by Canadian copyright law.