HMGA PROTEINS IN EPITHELIAL-MESENCHYMAL TRANSITION AND TUMOUR PROGRESSION

High Mobility Group A (HMGA1a, HMGA1b and HMGA2) proteins are architectural nuclear factors, physiological expressed during embryonic development and re-expressed at high levels following neoplastic transformation, playing essential functions in both these processes thanks to their particular plasticity and consequently multifunctionality. HMGA are involved in a wide number of cellular processes, including Epithelial-Mesenchymal transition (EMT), a biologic developmental process characterized by the conversion of epithelial cells to motile mesenchymal ones, with increased capacity of migration and invasion. EMT plays a key role during the progression of different tumours, including breast cancer and also HMGA have been linked to these processes in the acquisition of tumourigenic features. Consequently taking advantage of different breast cancer cell lines to recreate an "EMT model" we have investigated the role of HMGA proteins in EMT and breast carcinoma. We have developed a cellular model, stable for the overexpression of HMGA1 using the human breast cancer cell line MCF7. We have explored different aspects of tumourigenesis, performing transwell migration and invasion assays, demonstrating that cells with high levels of HMGA1 migrate and invade at a higher and significant level in comparison to control cells. Moreover this data was also confirmed with the development of an inducible cell line for HMGA1 overexpression. Therefore we have examined the expression status of different genes, including several specific EMT markers at mRNA level with Real Time PCR, observing a pre-malignant change towards mesenchymal status. We have investigated the response after DNA damage induced by doxorubicin drug, by colony formation assay, demonstrating that HMGA1 overexpressing cells confer a survival advantage to the cells, being able to survive and form a significant higher number of colonies in respect to control cells. Therefore to study deeper the role of HMGA in EMT, we have developed other two cellular systems, a human cellular model of EMT in MDA-MB-468 human breast carcinoma cells treated with Epidermal Growth Factor (EGF) and the well known EMT model, elicited by Transforming Growth Factor-? (TGF-?) in murine mammary epithelial NMuMG cells, in which HMGA2 is functionally determinant. We have demonstrated by Real Time PCR of EMT markers, Western Blot analyses and immunofluorescence the effective reliability of these cellular models, confirmed also by a dramatic change in morphology of treated cells, towards a mesenchymal phenotype. Concluding we have interestingly observed that overexpression of HMGA1 could confer some tumourigenic features (i.e. migration, invasion) and survival advantage to the cells in the MCF7 model after a cellular DNA damage induction; therefore we have different suggestions that HMGA are involved in EMT in other different cellular models.