COL11A1 confers chemoresistance on ovarian cancer cells through the activation of Akt/c/EBPβ pathway and PDK1 stabilization

Abstract

// Yi-Hui Wu 1 , Tzu-Hao Chang 2 , Yu-Fang Huang 1 , Chien-Chin Chen 3, 4 , Cheng-Yang Chou 1 1 Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University and Hospital, Tainan, Taiwan 2 Graduate Institute of Biomedical Informatics, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan 3 Department of Pathology, Chia-Yi Christian Hospital, Chia-Yi, Taiwan 4 Department of Cosmetic Science, Chia Nan University of Pharmacy and Science, Tainan, Taiwan Correspondence to: Cheng-Yang Chou, e-mail: chougyn@mail.ncku.edu.tw Keywords: epithelial ovarian carcinoma, chemoresistance, collagen type XI alpha 1, Akt, PDK1 Received: March 27, 2015      Accepted: May 28, 2015      Published: June 10, 2015 ABSTRACT Chemoresistance to anticancer drugs substantially reduces survival in epithelial ovarian carcinoma (EOC). Here, microarray analysis showed that collagen type XI alpha 1 ( COL11A1 ) is a chemotherapy response-associated gene. Chemoresistant cells expressed higher COL11A1 and c/EBPβ than chemosensitive cells. COL11A1 or c/EBPβ downregulation suppressed chemoresistance, whereas COL11A1 overexpression attenuated sensitivity to cisplatin and paclitaxel.The c/EBPβ binding site in the COL11A1 promoter was identified as the major determinant of cisplatin- and paclitaxel-induced COL11A1 expression. Immunoprecipitation and immunofluorescence showed that in resistant cells, Akt and PDK1 were highly expressed and that anticancer drugs enhanced binding activity between COL11A1 and PDK1 binding and attenuated PDK1 ubiquitination and degradation. Conversely, chemosensitive cells showed decreased activity of COL11A1 binding to PDK1 and increased PDK1 ubiquitination, which were reversed by COL11A1 overexpression. Analysis of 104 EOC patients showed that high COL11A1 mRNA levels are significantly associated with poor chemoresponse and clinical outcome.