Abstract 3940: Nuclear translocation of HER3 promotes breast cancer progression and dissemination recruiting immune cells via CXCL1 and CXCL8
Authors: Cheytan Tasneem , Würth Roberto , Hahnen Nina , Donato Elisa , Klein Corinna , Weber Rebecca , Colombo Daniele , Krijgsveld Jeroen , Sprick Martin , Trumpp Andreas 
Published: March 2024

Breast cancer is a highly complex multifactorial disease, which can be driven by the aberrant regulation of different signaling pathways including receptor tyrosine kinase (RTK) signaling. Notably, while RTKs have been classically described as transmembrane receptors, they can also translocate to the nucleus, even though the functional importance of this process remains largely unexplored for most RTKs. Here, we report a novel role for the nuclear form of the RTK human epidermal growth factor receptor 3 (HER3) in driving primary breast cancer growth and metastasis. Firstly, using different patient-derived organoids (PDOs) established from metastatic breast cancer patients, we demonstrated the robust translocation of the activated phosphorylated HER3 receptor (pHER3) from the plasma membrane to the nucleus in response to its ligand Neuregulin 1 (NRG1). Interestingly, the nuclear translocation was observed not only in the HER2-positive breast cancer subtype but also in luminal and triple-negative breast cancer-derived cells. In order to decipher the functional role of nuclear HER3 (nHER3), we identified and mutated its nuclear localization signal, resulting in decreased nuclear translocation of the receptor while its membrane form remained intact. This reduction in nHER3 remarkably impeded primary tumor growth and metastatic spread in different patient-derived xenograft (PDX) models. Conversely, selective overexpression of HER3 in the nucleus led to increased primary tumor growth and metastatic burden in vivo. In order to decipher the mechanism of action of nHER3, we performed co-immunoprecipitation followed by global mass spectrometric analysis to identify the protein binding partners of the receptor in the nucleus. Specifically, nHER3 was found to interact with different transcription factors such as the AP-2 family of transcription factors and with major chromatin remodeling complexes like the nucleosome remodeling and deacetylase (NuRD) complex, implicating its role in transcriptional regulation. Furthermore, gene expression analysis of PDOs expressing the wild-type or the mutated form of HER3 revealed the modulation of several key growth regulators such as early growth response 3 (EGR3) by nHER3. The nHER3-EGR3 axis further controlled downstream effectors like the immune chemoattractants CXCL1 and CXCL8. Accordingly, PDX from breast cancer cells overexpressing nHER3 showed significantly increased immune infiltration, suggesting a possible role of nHER3 in regulating the tumor microenvironment. Altogether, we report here a novel non-canonical role of the nuclear form of HER3 receptor in driving breast tumorigenesis, with key implications for our understanding and targeting of RTK signaling in breast cancer.

Citation Format: Tasneem Cheytan, Roberto Würth, Nina Hahnen, Elisa Donato, Corinna Klein, Rebecca Weber, Daniele Colombo, Jeroen Krijgsveld, Martin Sprick, Andreas Trumpp. Nuclear translocation of HER3 promotes breast cancer progression and dissemination recruiting immune cells via CXCL1 and CXCL8 [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2024; Part 1 (Regular Abstracts); 2024 Apr 5-10; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2024;84(6_Suppl):Abstract nr 3940.