A Novel Pathway that Links Caveolin-1 Down-Regulation to BRCA1 Dysfunction in Serous Epithelial Ovarian Cancer Cells

Ovarian cancer is the second most common gynecological cancer and the five-year survival rate is only about 40%. High-grade serous carcinoma is the pre-dominant histotype associated with hereditary ovarian cancer and women with inherited mutations in BRCA1 have a lifetime risk of 40–60%. BRCA1 and its isoform BRCA1a are multifunctional proteins that are the most evolutionary conserved of all the other splice variants. Our group has previously reported that BRCA1/1a proteins, unlike K109R and C61G mutants, suppress growth of ovarian cancer cells by tethering Ubc9. In this study we found wild type BRCA1/1a proteins to induce expression of caveolin-1, a tumor suppressor in BRCA1-mutant serous epithelial ovarian cancer (SEOC) cells by immunofluorescence analysis. The K109R and C61G disease associated mutant BRCA1 proteins that do not bind Ubc9 were not as efficient in up-regulation of caveolin-1 expression in SEOC cells. Additionally, immunofluorescence analysis showed BRCA1/1a proteins to induce redistribution of Caveolin-1 from cytoplasm and nucleus to the cell membrane. This is the first study demonstrating the physiological link between loss of Ubc9 binding, loss of growth suppression and loss of Caveolin-1 induction of disease-associated mutant BRCA1 proteins in SEOC cells. Decreased Caveolin-1 expression combined with elevated Ubc9 expression can in the future be used as an early biomarker for BRCA1 mutant SEOC.