Connexin43 pseudogene in breast cancer cells offers a novel therapeutic target

Abstract

Connexin43 (Cx43) is often deregulated in breast cancer tissue compared with normal adjacent tissue. Stable reexpression of Cx43 in cancer slows growth and renders the cells more sensitive to cytotoxic chemotherapeutics. Pseudogenes are often considered nonfunctional copies of DNA. The Cx43 pseudogene (PsiCx43) possesses all the features of an expressed gene and is exclusively transcribed in breast cancer cell lines and not in normal cells. PsiCx43 can be translated in vivo, and its protein exhibits growth-suppressive behavior similar to Cx43. We showed that PsiCx43 binds to the polyribosomes in breast cancer cells and that exogenous expression of PsiCx43 induces translational inhibition of Cx43. Furthermore, PsiCx43 is translated and binds more efficiently to the translational machinery than does Cx43 in an in vitro system. Following knockdown of PsiCx43 in breast cancer cells, we observed an increase in Cx43 RNA and protein. This results in increased cellular sensitivity to cytotoxic chemotherapy. Our results show that PsiCx43 acts as a posttranscriptional regulator of Cx43 in breast cancer cells, and that this represents an example of the regulation of genes by pseudogenes with potential therapeutic implications in cancer.