Abstract LB-37: P-REX1 is a novel PTEN-interacting protein that activates PI3K signaling in breast cancer.
Authors: Dillon Lloye M. , Bean Jennifer R. , Balko Justin M. , McDonald W. Hayes , Friedman David B. , Gonzalez-Angulo Ana M. , Mills Gordon B. , Arteaga Carlos L. , Miller Todd W. 
Published: August 2014

The mechanism(s) underlying regulation of the tumor suppressor phosphatase PTEN, which negatively regulates phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K) signaling, remains unclear. The PI3K/AKT pathway regulates cancer cell growth, survival, and metabolism. Since PTEN is expressed and PI3K is hyperactivated in the majority of breast cancers, we hypothesized that PTEN is inhibited by protein interactions, thus derepressing PI3K signaling. A proteomic screen to identify novel PTEN-binding proteins in breast cancer cells revealed interaction with P-REX1, a known Rac guanine exchange factor (GEF). A separate proteomic experiment to identify PTEN/PI3K-regulated proteins showed that P-REX1 levels are decreased upon loss of PTEN and increased upon inhibition of PI3K. PTEN/P-REX1 interaction and the effects of pharmacological PI3K pathway inhibitors on P-REX1 levels were validated by immunoprecipitation/immunoblot analyses. In reverse-phase protein array analysis of lysates from 597 primary human breast tumors, levels of P-REX1 protein were positively correlated with PTEN protein, and inversely correlated with phospho-AKT-T308 (both p&lt;0.005). Comparing diverse types of carcinomas (n=2,009 from International Genomics Consortium's expO) and cancer cell lines (n=807 from Cancer Cell Line Encyclopedia), PREX1 mRNA levels were highest in ER+ and HER2+ breast cancer. In another series of 1,293 epithelial tumors (from The Cancer Genome Atlas), PREX1 is amplified or mutated in 6.2% of cases, and in 5% of breast cancers. Since multiple genomic lesions that can activate the PI3K pathway are known to co-exist in cancer cells, we tested whether PREX1 lesions co-exist with other PI3K pathway-activating lesions. Among genes encoding proteins implicated in growth factor receptor/PI3K/PTEN signaling and phosphatidylinositol metabolism, we found a significant enrichment for PREX1 mutation/amplification in 54/79 (68%) genes across 1,523 carcinomas. Overexpression and RNAi knockdown experiments revealed that P-REX1 increases steady-state and insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1)-induced PI3K-dependent AKT phosphorylation in ER+ breast cancer cells. Studies are underway to identify the mechanistic role of P-REX1 in PI3K/PTEN signaling, and to determine whether P-REX1 directly inhibits PTEN. Our findings suggest that 1) P-REX1 is an activator of the PI3K/AKT pathway, 2) expression and mutation patterns implicate PREX1 in PI3K activation, and 3) neutralizing P-REX1 effects on PTEN/PI3K may be a novel therapeutic approach to selectively abrogate PI3K signaling in ER+ and HER2+ breast cancers while sparing normal tissues.

Citation Format: Lloye M. Dillon, Jennifer R. Bean, Justin M. Balko, W. Hayes McDonald, David B. Friedman, Ana M. Gonzalez-Angulo, Gordon B. Mills, Carlos L. Arteaga, Todd W. Miller. P-REX1 is a novel PTEN-interacting protein that activates PI3K signaling in breast cancer. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 104th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2013 Apr 6-10; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2013;73(8 Suppl):Abstract nr LB-37. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2013-LB-37