Proteoglycans play a key role in cancer development and progression by participating in the constitution of a specific fertile tumor microenvironment. As they are largely overexpressed in the malignant stroma, proteoglycans provide a reservoir of potential new targets for anticancer therapies, because they can serve to convey toxic payloads in the close proximity of cancer cells and subsequently destroy them. In this context, versican, a proteoglycan largely overexpressed in several solid cancers, bears the potential to be such an ideal target. As 4 main versican isoforms have been characterized, we sought to determine which isoform could represent the best target in human breast cancer. We used a series of 10 primary breast cancer lesions that were characterized as overexpressing the versican protein, when compared with matched normal breast tissues, using shotgun mass spectrometry and immunohistochemistry experiments. Quantitative polymerase chain reaction and western‐blotting experiments were used to evaluate versican isoform expression in breast cancer/normal tissue pairs for which ARN quality was excellent. All known isoforms were significantly overexpressed in the malignant lesions, both at the mRNA and at the protein levels. In the course of this study, we also identified and cloned a new alternatively spliced versican isoform, referred to as V4, which was also found to be upregulated in human breast cancer. This study provides for the first time a comprehensive mRNA and protein analysis of versican isoforms expression in human breast tissues, and offers insights into which therapeutic strategy would be best suited to target versican in human breast cancer lesions.

Orai proteins are highly selective calcium channels playing an important role in calcium entry. Orai3 channels are overexpressed in breast cancer (BC) tissues, and involved in their proliferation, cell cycle progression and survival. Herein, we sought to address the involvement of Orai3 in resistance to chemotherapeutic drugs. Using high-throughput approaches, we investigated major changes induced by Orai3 overexpression, including downstream signaling mechanisms involved in BC chemotherapy resistance. Resistance was dependent on external calcium presence and thus Orai3 functionality. This effect allowed a downregulation of the p53 tumor suppressor protein expression via the pro-survival PI3K/Sgk-1/Sek-1 pathway. We demonstrated that p53 degradation occurred not only via Mdm2, but also via another unexpected E3 ubiquitin ligase, Nedd4-2. We found supporting bioinformatic evidence linking Orai3 overexpression and chemoresistance in large human BC data sets. Altogether, our results shed light on the molecular mechanisms activated in BC cells commonly found to overexpress Orai3, allowing resistance to chemotherapeutic drugs.

A promising avenue toward the development of more selective anticancer drugs consists in the targeted delivery of bioactive molecules to the tumor environment by means of binding molecules specific to tumor-associated markers. We have used a chemical proteomics approach based on the ex vivo perfusion and biotinylation of accessible structures within surgically resected human kidneys with tumor to gain information about accessible and abundant antigens that are overexpressed in human cancer. This procedure led to the selective labeling with biotin of vascular structures. Biotinylated proteins were purified on streptavidin resin and identified using mass spectrometric methodologies, revealing 637 proteins, 184 of which were only found in tumor specimens and 223 of which were only found in portions of normal kidneys. Immunohistochemical and PCR analysis confirmed that several of the putative cancer antigens identified in this study are indeed preferentially expressed in tumors. In conclusion, we have developed a methodology that allows the identification of accessible biomarkers in human tissues. The tumor-associated antigens identified in this study may be suitable targets for antibody-based anticancer therapies. The experimental approach described here should be applicable to other surgical specimens and to other pathologies as well as to the study of basic physiological and immunological processes.

In the battle against cancer cells, therapeutic modalities are drastically limited by intrinsic or acquired drug resistance. Resistance to therapy is not only common, but expected: if systemic agents used for cancer treatment are usually active at the beginning of therapy (i.e., 90% of primary breast cancers and 50% of metastases), about 30% of patients with early-stage breast cancer will have recurrent disease. Altered expression of ion channels is now considered as one of the hallmarks of cancer, and several ion channels have been linked to cancer cell resistance. While ion channels have been associated with cell death, apoptosis and even chemoresistance since the late 80s, the molecular mechanisms linking ion channel expression and/or function with chemotherapy have mostly emerged in the last ten years. In this review, we will highlight the relationships between ion channels and resistance to chemotherapy, with a special emphasis on the underlying molecular mechanisms.