PLAC8 promotes adriamycin resistance via blocking autophagy in breast cancer

Adriamycin (ADM) is currently one of the most effective chemotherapeutic agents in breast cancer treatment. However, growing resistance to ADM could lead to treatment failure and poor outcome. PLAC8 was reported as a novel highly conserved protein and functioned as an oncogene or tumour suppressor in various tumours. Here, we found higher PLAC8 expression was correlated with worse outcome and aggressive phenotype in breast cancer. Breast cancer patients with higher PLAC8 expression showed potential ADM resistance. In vitro experiments further confirmed that PLAC8 inhibited by siRNA or enforced overexpression by infecting pcDNA3.1(C)‐PLAC8 plasmid correspondingly decreased or increased ADM resistance. Subsequently, we demonstrated that ectopic PLAC8 expression in MCF‐7/ADMR cell blocked the accumulation of the autophagy‐associated protein LC3 and resulted in cellular accumulation of p62. Rapamycin‐triggered autophagy significantly increased cell response to ADM, while the autophagy inhibitor 3‐MA enhanced ADM resistance. 3‐MA and PLAC8 could synergistically cause ADM resistance via blocking the autophagy process. Additionally, the down‐regulation of p62 by siRNA attenuated the activation of autophagy and PLAC8 expression in breast cancer cells. Thus, our findings suggest that PLAC8, through the participation of p62, inhibits autophagy and consequently results in ADM resistance in breast cancer. PLAC8/p62 pathway may act as novel therapeutic targets in breast cancer treatment and has potential clinical application in overcoming ADM resistance.