Minireview: steroid receptor coactivator-3: a multifarious coregulator in mammary gland metastasis

Endocrinology. 2011 Jan;152(1):19-25. doi: 10.1210/en.2010-1012. Epub 2010 Nov 3.

Abstract

A member of the steroid receptor coactivator (SRC)/p160 family, SRC-3 acts as a coregulator for nuclear receptor (NR) and non-NR transcription factors. Such coregulator pleiotropy enables SRC-3 to influence a myriad of signaling networks that are essential for normal physiology and pathophysiology. Although SRC-3's proliferative role in primary tumor formation in the mammary gland is well established, a role for this oncogenic coregulator in tumor cell motility and invasion has only recently been elucidated. In the nucleus, SRC-3 is required for the execution of the epithelial-mesenchymal transition, a programming step which endows an immotile cancer cell with motile and invasive characteristics. Nuclear SRC-3 is also essential for proteolytic breakdown of the extracellular matrix by matrix-metalloproteinases, a process which enables primary tumor cell invasion into the surrounding stroma. At the plasma membrane, however, a truncated isoform of SRC-3 (SRC-3Δ4) serves as a signaling adaptor for the epidermal growth factor→focal adhesion kinase→c-Src signal transduction pathway, a signaling cascade that is central to growth factor-induced cell migration and invasion. Together, these studies underscore a pivotal role for SRC-3 not only as a proto-oncogene but also as a prometastatic factor during the early steps in the invasion-metastasis cascade. Beyond furnishing critical mechanistic insights into SRC-3's involvement in mammary tumor progression, these findings provide opportunities to develop new approaches for breast cancer diagnosis and intervention.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Breast Neoplasms / metabolism
  • Breast Neoplasms / pathology*
  • Female
  • Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic
  • Humans
  • Neoplasm Invasiveness / physiopathology
  • Nuclear Receptor Coactivator 3 / genetics
  • Nuclear Receptor Coactivator 3 / metabolism*
  • Proto-Oncogene Mas
  • Signal Transduction

Substances

  • MAS1 protein, human
  • Proto-Oncogene Mas
  • Nuclear Receptor Coactivator 3