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Hu, Hai

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Hai

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Hu, Hai

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2011 - 20165

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Author's Publications: search.filters.isAuthorOfPublication.e58b2bf4-0ee6-4bd7-8282-575550b4ceda

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    The Rab2A GTPase Promotes Breast Cancer Stem Cells and Tumorigenesis via Erk Signaling Activation
    (2015) Luo, Man-Li; Gong, Chang; Chen, Chun-Hau; Hu, Hai; Huang, Pengyu; Zheng, Min; Yao, Yandan; Wei, Shuo; Wulf, Gerburg; Lieberman, Judy; Zhou, Xiao; Song, Erwei; Lu, Kun Ping
    SUMMARY Proline-directed phosphorylation is regulated by the prolyl isomerase Pin1, which plays a fundamental role in driving breast cancer stem-like cells (BCSCs). Rab2A is a small GTPase critical for vesicle trafficking. Here, we show that Pin1 increases Rab2A transcription to promote BCSC expansion and tumorigenesis in vitro and in vivo. Mechanistically, Rab2A directly interacts with and prevents dephosphorylation/inactivation of Erk1/2 by the MKP3 phosphatase, resulting in Zeb1 upregulation and β-catenin nuclear translocation. In cancer cells, Rab2A is activated via gene amplification, mutation or Pin1 overexpression. Rab2A overexpression or mutation endows BCSC traits to primary normal human breast epithelial cells, whereas silencing Rab2A potently inhibits the expansion and tumorigenesis of freshly isolated BCSCs. Finally, Rab2A overexpression correlates with poor clinical outcome in breast cancer patients. Thus, Pin1/Rab2A/Erk drives BCSC expansion and tumorigenicity, suggesting potential drug targets.
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    Epstein–Barr Virus Infection of Mammary Epithelial Cells Promotes Malignant Transformation☆
    (Elsevier, 2016) Hu, Hai; Luo, Man-Li; Desmedt, Christine; Nabavi, Sheida; Yadegarynia, Sina; Hong, Alex; Konstantinopoulos, Panagiotis A.; Gabrielson, Edward; Hines-Boykin, Rebecca; Pihan, German; Yuan, Xin; Sotirious, Christos; Dittmer, Dirk P.; Fingeroth, Joyce D.; Wulf, Gerburg
    Whether the human tumor virus, Epstein–Barr Virus (EBV), promotes breast cancer remains controversial and a potential mechanism has remained elusive. Here we show that EBV can infect primary mammary epithelial cells (MECs) that express the receptor CD21. EBV infection leads to the expansion of early MEC progenitor cells with a stem cell phenotype, activates MET signaling and enforces a differentiation block. When MECs were implanted as xenografts, EBV infection cooperated with activated Ras and accelerated the formation of breast cancer. Infection in EBV-related tumors was of a latency type II pattern, similar to nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). A human gene expression signature for MECs infected with EBV, termed EBVness, was associated with high grade, estrogen-receptor-negative status, p53 mutation and poor survival. In 11/33 EBVness-positive tumors, EBV-DNA was detected by fluorescent in situ hybridization for the viral LMP1 and BXLF2 genes. In an analysis of the TCGA breast cancer data EBVness correlated with the presence of the APOBEC mutational signature. We conclude that a contribution of EBV to breast cancer etiology is plausible, through a mechanism in which EBV infection predisposes mammary epithelial cells to malignant transformation, but is no longer required once malignant transformation has occurred.
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    Glutathione biosynthesis is a metabolic vulnerability in PI3K/Akt-driven breast cancer
    (2016) Lien, Evan C.; Lyssiotis, Costas A.; Juvekar, Ashish; Hu, Hai; Asara, John; Cantley, Lewis C.; Toker, Alex
    Cancer cells often select for mutations that enhance signaling through pathways that promote anabolic metabolism1. Although the PI3K/Akt signaling pathway, which is frequently dysregulated in breast cancer2, is a well-established regulator of central glucose metabolism and aerobic glycolysis3,4, its regulation of other metabolic processes required for tumor growth is not well defined. Here we report that in mammary epithelial cells, oncogenic PI3K/Akt stimulates glutathione (GSH) biosynthesis by stabilizing and activating Nrf2 to up-regulate the GSH biosynthetic genes. Increased Nrf2 stability is dependent on the Akt-mediated accumulation of p21Cip1/WAF1 and GSK-3 inhibition. Consistently, in human breast tumors, up-regulation of Nrf2 targets is associated with PI3K pathway mutation status and oncogenic Akt activation. Elevated GSH biosynthesis is required for PI3K/Akt-driven resistance to oxidative stress, initiation of tumor spheroids, and anchorage-independent growth. Furthermore, inhibition of GSH biosynthesis with buthionine sulfoximine (BSO) synergizes with cisplatin (CDDP) to selectively induce tumor regression in PI3K pathway mutant breast cancer cells, both in vitro and in vivo. Our findings provide insight into GSH biosynthesis as a metabolic vulnerability associated with PI3K pathway mutant breast cancers.
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    Active Pin1 is a key target of all-trans retinoic acid in acute promyelocytic leukemia and breast cancer
    (2015) Wei, Shuo; Kozono, Shingo; Kats, Lev; Nechama, Morris; Li, Wenzong; Guarnerio, Jlenia; Luo, Manli; You, Mi-Hyeon; Yao, Yandan; Kondo, Asami; Hu, Hai; Bozkurt, Gunes; Moerke, Nathan J.; Cao, Shugeng; Reschke, Markus; Chen, Chun-Hau; Rego, Eduardo M.; LoCoco, Francesco; Cantley, Lewis; Lee, Tae Ho; Wu, Hao; Zhang, Yan; Pandolfi, Pier Paolo; Zhou, Xiao; Lu, Kun Ping
    A common key regulator of oncogenic signaling pathways in multiple tumor types is the unique isomerase Pin1. However, available Pin1 inhibitors lack the required specificity and potency. Using mechanism-based screening, here we find that all-trans retinoic acid (ATRA)--a therapy for acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL) that is considered the first example of targeted therapy in cancer, but its drug target remains elusive--inhibits and degrades active Pin1 selectively in cancer cells by directly binding to the substrate phosphate- and proline-binding pockets in the Pin1 active site. ATRA-induced Pin1 ablation degrades the fusion oncogene PML-RARα and treats APL in cell and animal models and human patients. ATRA-induced Pin1 ablation also inhibits triple negative breast cancer cell growth in human cells and in animal models by acting on many Pin1 substrate oncogenes and tumor suppressors. Thus, ATRA simultaneously blocks multiple Pin1-regulated cancer-driving pathways, an attractive property for treating aggressive and drug-resistant tumors.
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    The Amplifier Effect: How Pin1 Empowers Mutant p53
    (BioMed Central, 2011) Hu, Hai; Wulf, Gerburg
    Mutation of p53 occurs in 15 to 20% of all breast cancers, and with higher frequency in estrogen-receptor negative and high-grade tumors. Certain p53 mutations contribute to malignant transformation not only through loss of wild-type p53 but also through a gain of function of specific p53 mutations. How these hotspot mutations turn p53 from a tumor suppressor into an oncogene had until now remained incompletely understood. In an elegant paper published in the July 12 issue of Cancer Cell, Girardini and colleagues show how Pin1-mediated prolylisomerization, a regulatory mechanism intended by evolution to support p53's function as a guardian of the genome, can go haywire and accelerate malignant transformation when p53 carries a dominant-negative mutation.