PAK5-mediated phosphorylation and nuclear translocation of NF-κB-p65 promotes breast cancer cell proliferation in vitro and in vivo

Ying-Chun Zhang, Fu-Chun Huo, Lu-Lu Wei, Chan-Chan Gong, Yao-Jie Pan, Jie Mou, Dong-Sheng Pei

Abnormal proliferation is significantly associated with the promotion of malignant tumor. Growing evidence suggest that the signal pathways of p21(cdc42/rac1)-activated kinase 5 (PAK5) have been found in various tumor progression, however, the role of PAK5 in breast cancer remains largely unclear. We evaluated PAK5 and p65 staining in breast cancer tissues (BCTs) and paired non-cancerous tissues (NTs) using tissue microarray (TMA) technology. The functions of PAK5 were studied in vitro and in vivo. Cell Counting Kit-8 (CCK-8) and flow cytometry were performed to determine proliferation of breast cancer cells. Phosphorylation assay and co-immunoprecipitation (co-IP) were employed to identify the regulation mechanism of p65 by PAK5. The activation of Cyclin D1 promoter was measured with luciferase reporter assay. Xenograft models in nude mice were established to explore the roles of PAK5 in breast cancer growth. In this study, we show that PAK5 is highly expressed in breast cancer tissues and the increased PAK5 is significantly associated with breast cancer progression. Overexpression of PAK5 promotes the proliferation and cell-cycle progression by increasing the expression of Cyclin D1 in vitro and in vivo. Mechanistic studies demonstrated that PAK5 can promote the phosphorylation and the nuclear translocation of p65 subunit of nuclear factor-kappaB (NF-κB). Furthermore, p65 can directly bind to the promoter of Cyclin D1 and mediate an increase in its protein expression. Taken together, our findings suggest that PAK5 may serve as a potential prognosis marker and therapeutic target for human breast cancer.