Estrogen receptor signaling regulates the expression of the breast tumor kinase in breast cancer cells

BACKGROUND: BRK is, a non-receptor tyrosine kinase, overexpressed in approximately 85% of human invasive ductal breast tumors. It is not clear whether BRK expression correlates with breast cancer subtypes, or the expression has prognostic or diagnostic significance. Herein, we investigated the correlation of BRK with any breast cancer subtypes and clinicopathological significance of BRK expression in breast cancer. METHODS: In this study, we examined BRK expression in 120 breast tumor samples and 29 breast cancer cell lines to explore the positive correlation between BRK and the expression of ERα. We used immunohistochemistry, RT-PCR, and immunoblotting to analyse our experimental samples. RESULT: We demonstrate that estrogen induces BRK gene and protein expression in ER+ breast cancer cells. Over-expression of ERα in the ER-negative breast cancer cell line increased BRK expression, and knock-down of ESR1 in MCF7 cells reduced BRK levels. Further, we provide evidence that BRK is regulated by ERα signaling and the presence of ER antagonists (tamoxifen and fulvestrant) reduce the expression of BRK in ER-positive breast cancer cells. Finally, we demonstrate that the overall survival of ER-positive breast cancer patients is poor when their cancers express high levels of BRK. CONCLUSION: Our data indicate that BRK is a prognostic marker for ER+ breast cancers and provide a strong rationale for targeting BRK to improve patients’ survival. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1186/s12885-018-5186-8) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.