Scholarlink

Background <p>Breast cancer remains one of the most prevalent malignancies among women, with doxorubicin resistance posing a significant challenge that undermines treatment success and survival outcomes. Aberrant alternative splicing (AS), driven by dysregulation or mutations in splicing factors (SFs), is implicated in cancer initiation, progression, and drug resistance. This study aims to investigate the association of the epithelial cell-specific splicing factor ESRP1 with doxorubicin resistance in breast cancer, focusing on how ESRP1 deficiency correlates with AS changes that promote chemoresistance.</p> Methods <p>We analyzed RNA-sequencing (RNA-seq) data from doxorubicin-resistant (MCF7-DR) and parental (MCF7) breast cancer cell lines to identify enhanced alternative splicing events (ASEs) and changes in ESRP1 expression; we further leveraged The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA)-BRCA cohort to construct an SF–RASE correlation network for screening core SFs (including ESRP1). An integrative analysis combining crosslinking immunoprecipitation (CLIP-seq) data and The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database was performed to validate ESRP1 binding targets and assess the association between ESRP1-related splicing and cytoskeleton organization.</p> Results <p>We observed extensive AS changes and significantly downregulated <i>ESRP1</i> expression in MCF7-DR cells. Integrative analysis identified 61 high-confidence ASEs that correlate with ESRP1 expression. Further bioinformatic integration suggests that ESRP1 expression is associated with the splicing patterns of <i>SPTBN1</i>, <i>MAP2K7</i>, <i>FGFR3</i>, and <i>CYB561A3</i>—four genes involved in cytoskeleton organization—though direct experimental verification to confirm a causal regulatory relationship between ESRP1 and the splicing of these genes is still pending.</p> Conclusions <p>Our findings suggest that ESRP1 expression is closely associated with doxorubicin resistance in breast cancer cells, with concomitant alterations in key ASEs linked to cytoskeletal remodeling that correlate with ESRP1. Exploring the ESRP1-related splicing network may offer new strategies to overcome chemoresistance and improve patient outcomes. However, the small cell line sample size (<i>n</i> = 2 per group) constrains the robustness of ASE and SF–ASE correlation findings, and these results should be interpreted with caution and require further validation with larger sample cohorts.</p>

错误：搜索内容不能为空，请输入英文关键词
错误：关键词超出字数限制，请精简
高级检索

Bioinformatic analysis reveals the potential association of ESRP1 with the splicing of cytoskeleton-associated genes in doxorubicin-resistant MCF7 breast cancer cells

  • 期刊论文

  • 出版模式：

    开放获取

  • 发表日期：

    2026年6月21日

查看全文
  • Jing Zhang,
  • Libin Chen,
  • Qingling Song,
  • Li Xu,
  • Yinghua Li,
  • Wen Li,
  • Jie Wang

摘要

Background

Breast cancer remains one of the most prevalent malignancies among women, with doxorubicin resistance posing a significant challenge that undermines treatment success and survival outcomes. Aberrant alternative splicing (AS), driven by dysregulation or mutations in splicing factors (SFs), is implicated in cancer initiation, progression, and drug resistance. This study aims to investigate the association of the epithelial cell-specific splicing factor ESRP1 with doxorubicin resistance in breast cancer, focusing on how ESRP1 deficiency correlates with AS changes that promote chemoresistance.

Methods

We analyzed RNA-sequencing (RNA-seq) data from doxorubicin-resistant (MCF7-DR) and parental (MCF7) breast cancer cell lines to identify enhanced alternative splicing events (ASEs) and changes in ESRP1 expression; we further leveraged The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA)-BRCA cohort to construct an SF–RASE correlation network for screening core SFs (including ESRP1). An integrative analysis combining crosslinking immunoprecipitation (CLIP-seq) data and The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database was performed to validate ESRP1 binding targets and assess the association between ESRP1-related splicing and cytoskeleton organization.

Results

We observed extensive AS changes and significantly downregulated ESRP1 expression in MCF7-DR cells. Integrative analysis identified 61 high-confidence ASEs that correlate with ESRP1 expression. Further bioinformatic integration suggests that ESRP1 expression is associated with the splicing patterns of SPTBN1, MAP2K7, FGFR3, and CYB561A3—four genes involved in cytoskeleton organization—though direct experimental verification to confirm a causal regulatory relationship between ESRP1 and the splicing of these genes is still pending.

Conclusions

Our findings suggest that ESRP1 expression is closely associated with doxorubicin resistance in breast cancer cells, with concomitant alterations in key ASEs linked to cytoskeletal remodeling that correlate with ESRP1. Exploring the ESRP1-related splicing network may offer new strategies to overcome chemoresistance and improve patient outcomes. However, the small cell line sample size (n = 2 per group) constrains the robustness of ASE and SF–ASE correlation findings, and these results should be interpreted with caution and require further validation with larger sample cohorts.