Downregulation of VPAC1R expression in breast cancer cell lines

Abstract

The breast carcinoma cell line T47D was tested for 17 beta-estradiol (E2) mediated regulation of vasoactive intestinal polypeptide receptor type-1 (VPAC1) expression. E2 was found to downregulate the mRNA level. The number of VIP binding sites was reduced 66% on treatment with E2 for 72 h. Experiments with cycloheximide suggested that the effect was independent (at least partly so) of protein synthesis. Experiments with the transcriptional inhibitor, actinomycin D, showed that E2 did not influence the VPAC1 mRNA halflife. Both of two antiestrogens, ICI 182,780 and 4-hydroxy-tamoxifen, mediated a concentration dependent inhibition of the effect of E2 on the mRNA level. Transient transfection with reporter-gene constructs containing various portions of the VPAC1 5'-flanking sequence revealed the most proximal 100 bp to be essential for the basal transcriptional activity. However, E2 did not influence the expression of the reporter gene using up to 3,250 bp of the VPAC1 5'-flanking region.