NRF3 suppresses breast cancer cell metastasis and cell proliferation and is a favorable predictor of survival in breast cancer

Background: Cancer metastasis is the leading cause of cancer-related death in breast cancer. However, our understanding of its mechanisms is still limited. At this study, the biological roles and clinical significance of NRF3 (NFE2L3, nuclear factor, Erythroid 2 Like 3) in breast cancer are evaluated for the first time. Methods: NRF3 expression in breast cancer cell lines and clinical specimens was determined by western blot and immunohistochemistry, respectively. Cell proliferation, cell cycle distribution, cell migration, and invasion were detected by MTT, colony formation, flow cytometry, and transwell assays, respectively. All other proteins were measured by western blot. The clinical significance of NRF3 was analyzed using the data from tissue microarray. Results: We found that NRF3 expression was obviously suppressed in breast cancer tissues, and negatively associated with the Lymph node metastasis status and tumor stages. Our data also indicated NRF3 expression was much higher in MCF-7 cells than that in MDA-MB-231 and SKBR3 cells which were more malignant. Silence of NRF3 in MCF-7 cells could significantly promote cell proliferation by reducing the cell number in the G0/G1 phase. Exogenous expression of NRF3 in SKBR3 and MDA-MB-231 cells effectively inhibited both cell growth and metastasis with epithelial–mesenchymal transition and MMPs expression suppressed. NRF3 overexpression also impaired the ID3 expression by inactivating the AKT signaling pathway. Exogenous expression of ID3 could not only effectively promote breast cancer cell invasion by inhibiting E-cadherin expression and upregulating MMP-2 expression, but also attenuated the inhibitory function of NRF3 on the breast cancer cell invasion. Conclusion: Our findings suggested that NRF3 inhibited breast cancer cell proliferation and metastasis via inhibiting AKT/ID3 axis at least partially, and potentially to be a valuable clinic marker in breast cancer prognosis.