Changes in subcellular localisation of MI-ER1α, a novel oestrogen receptor-α interacting protein, is associated with breast cancer progression

The oestrogen receptor-α (ERα) plays a key role in breast development and tumorigenesis and inhibiting its activity remains a prime strategy in the treatment of ERα-positive breast cancers. Thus, elucidation of the molecular mechanisms responsible for regulating ERα activity may facilitate the design of new, more effective breast cancer therapies. The MI-ER1α is a novel transcriptional repressor that contains an LXXLL motif for interaction with nuclear hormone receptors. We investigated the ability of MI-ER1α to bind to ERα in HEK293 and MCF-7 breast carcinoma cells, using co-immunoprecipitation assays. In both cell lines, MI-ER1α interacted with ERα in the presence and absence of oestrogen, but the interaction was stronger in the absence of ligand. Functional analysis revealed that overexpression of MI-ER1α in T47D breast carcinoma cells results in inhibition of oestrogen-stimulated anchorage-independent growth, suggesting that MI-ER1α may play a role in regulating breast carcinoma cell proliferation in vivo. To explore this further, we performed an immunohistochemical analysis of normal breast tissue and breast carcinoma; a total of 110 cases were examined in whole tissue sections and 771 cases were analysed in tissue microarrays. No consistent difference in the MI-ER1α expression level between normal breast tissue and breast carcinoma was discernible. However, there was a dramatic shift in the subcellular localisation: nuclear MI-ER1α was detectable in 75% of normal breast samples and in 77% of hyperplasia, but in breast carcinoma, only 51% of DCIS, 25% of ILC and 4% of IDC contained nuclear staining. This shift from nuclear to cytoplasmic localisation of MI-ER1α during breast cancer progression suggests that loss of nuclear MI-ER1α might contribute to the development of invasive breast carcinoma.