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Estrogen receptor beta increases clear cell renal cell carcinoma stem cell phenotype via altering the circPHACTR4/miR‐34b‐5p/c‐Myc signaling
Author(s) -
Wang Yaxuan,
Yang Zhan,
Gu Junfei,
Zhang Yanping,
Wang Xin,
Teng Zhihai,
Wang Dandan,
Gao Lei,
Li Wei,
Yeh Shuyuan,
Han Zhenwei
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fj.202101645r
Subject(s) - estrogen receptor , cancer research , biology , microrna , clear cell renal cell carcinoma , estrogen receptor beta , population , cell , stem cell , cell growth , microbiology and biotechnology , cancer , medicine , renal cell carcinoma , gene , breast cancer , genetics , environmental health
Abstract Early clinical studies indicated that estrogen receptor beta (ERβ) might play key roles to impact the progression of clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC). The detailed molecular mechanisms, however, remain unclear. Here, we found ERβ could increase the cancer stem cell (CSC) population via altering the circPHACTR4/miR‐34b‐5p/c‐Myc signaling. Mechanism dissection revealed that ERβ could suppress circular RNA PHACTR4 (circPHACTR4) expression via direct binding to the estrogen response elements (EREs) on the 5′ promoter region of its host gene, phosphatase and actin regulator 4 ( PHACTR4 ) to decrease miR‐34b‐5p expression. The decreased miRNA‐34b‐5p could then increase c‐Myc mRNA translation via targeting its 3′ untranslated region (3′ UTR). The in vivo mouse model with subcutaneous xenografts of ccRCC cells also validated the in vitro data. Importantly, analysis results from ccRCC TCGA database and our clinical data further confirmed the above in vitro/in vivo data. Together, these results suggest that ERβ may increase CSC population in ccRCC via altering ERβ/circPHACTR4/miR‐34b‐5p/c‐Myc signaling and that targeting this newly identified signal pathway may help physicians to better suppress ccRCC progression.