Exploring the role of ER Beta in disease penetrance in individuals with Li-Fraumeni syndrome

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Abstarct Individuals with Li-Fraumeni syndrome (LFS) are predisposed to a wide spectrum of cancer types at a relatively early age. Despite that LFS is linked to germline mutations of p53, these aberrations alone cannot explain the complex phenotype of the syndrome. The observation that female mutation carriers have higher cancer risk than males points to a role of sex steroid signaling in affecting disease penetrance. Further, breast cancer whose etiology relates to aberrant hormonal signaling is the most common malignancy in LFS. However, the effects of irregular hormone signaling on breast tumorigenesis in LFS have not been explored. Estrogen is essential for proper development and function of breast tissue. It regulates proliferation and differentiation of epithelial cells in adolescence and pregnancy. Because cells in development are susceptible to malignant transformation, it is well accepted that the proliferative action of estrogen is coordinated with an increase in genome surveillance. Two receptors (ERα and ERβ) mediate the effects of estrogen in mammary tissue. While ERα is responsible for the proliferative activity of the hormone, ERβ promotes differentiation and regulates DNA damage response which let us to propose that this subtype is employed by estrogen to ensure genome integrity. In support of this role, our findings demonstrate that ERβ enhances the activity of p53 in response to genotoxic stress and loss of synergistic tumor suppressor function as a result of combined inactivation in mammary gland results in early- onset breast tumors in mice. In addition to wild-type form, we have seen that ERβ binds to mutant p53 to inhibit its oncogenic function. Since LFS tissues are often heterozygous for mutant p53, we hypothesize that ERβ coordinates with both alleles of p53 and other pathways to maintain genome stability and, therefore, dysregulation of ERβ signaling in LFS mammary tissue results in malignant transformation and increased incidence of breast cancer. Our proposed research will: 1) investigate whether ERβ affects breast tumorigenesis in LFS, 2) determine effects of ERβ agonists on penetrance in LFS and 3) elucidate the mechanism of ERβ action. To test whether abnormal ERβ signaling affects breast cancer in LFS, we will analyze virgin and pregnant mice with germline point p53 mutations that mimic human LFS phenotypes and ubiquitous and mammary gland- specific inactivation of ERβ. We will also assess ERβ expression in human LFS tissues and identify associations with the age of tumor onset (Aim 1). In addition, we will treat LFS mice with ERβ agonists that are in clinical trials for other diseases expecting these compounds to potentiate its tumor suppressor activity and prevent breast cancer and its associated mortality (Aim 2). Further, we will delineate the mechanisms of ERβ action by analyzing LFS tissues for pathways that are associated with the phenotype of the syndrome (Aim 3). Determining the effects of estrogen signaling on LFS tissues will lead through the development of novel estrogen responsive biomarkers to a better model to predict cancer risk in the syndrome and assist the evaluation of endocrine compounds as a novel chemoprevention regimen to reduce cancer incidence and its associated mortality.