WNT5B governs the phenotype of basal-like breast cancer by activating WNT signaling

BACKGROUND: Breast cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related death in women worldwide. Metastatic disease remains the primary cause of death in patients with breast cancer. Basal-like breast cancer (BLBC) is associated with aggressive behavior, stem-like phenotype, high histological grade, poor clinical features, and high rates of recurrences and/or metastasis. However, the mechanism of BLBC phenotype shaping remains obscure. METHODS: Seventeen normal breast/breast cancer cell lines were used for evaluating the breast cancer subtype-markers, WNT targets and constitutive components, and epithelial mesenchymal transition (EMT) markers analysis by western blot. One hundred and twenty formalin-fixed breast cancer tissues were used for immunohistochemistry (IHC) staining. Nine online platforms (cBioPortal, CCLE, GEPIA, etc.) were used for related analyses. RESULTS: We identified Wnt5b as a key regulatory factor that governs the phenotype of BLBC by activating canonical and non-canonical WNT signaling. Wnt5b exhibited basal-like specificity in cells and clinical samples both at the mRNA and protein levels and also showed good correlation with basal-like phenotype at the mRNA level. Besides, Wnt5b was also a promising therapeutic target for LGK-974 treatment. In addition, we identified that CK1α was expressed at low levels in BLBC and that the activation of CK1α by pyrvinium was an alternative strategy for BLBC treatment. CONCLUSIONS: Wnt5b is not only a diagnostic biomarker but also a potential therapeutic target of BLBC. GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT: [Image: see text] ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1186/s12964-019-0419-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.