Description: Breast cancer resistance protein (BCRP/ABCG2) is a molecular determinant of pharmacokinetic properties of many drugs in humans. To understand posttranscriptional regulation of ABCG2 and role of microRNAs (miRNAs) in drug disposition, we found that microRNA-328 (miR-328) might readily target the 3'-untranslated region (3'-UTR) of ABCG2 when considering target-site accessibility. We then noted an inverse relation between the levels of miR-328 and ABCG2 in MCF-7 and MCF-7/MX100 breast cancer cells, and the fact that miR-328 levels could be rescued in MCF-7/MX100 cells transfected with miR-328 plasmid. Luciferase reporter assays showed that ABCG2 3'-UTR-luciferase activity was decreased over 50% in MCF-7/MX100 cells after transfected with miR-328 plasmid, the activity was increased over 100% in MCF-7 cells transfected with a miR-328 antagomir, and disruption of miR-328 response element within ABCG2 3'-UTR led to a 3-fold increase in luciferase activity. Furthermore, the level of ABCG2 protein was down-regulated when miR-328 was over-expressed, and the level was up-regulated when miR-328 was inhibited by selective antagomir. Altered ABCG2 protein expression was associated with significantly declined or elevated levels of ABCG2 3'-UTR and coding sequence mRNAs, suggesting possible involvement of the mechanism of mRNA cleavage. Lastly, miR-328-directed down-regulation of ABCG2 expression in MCF-7/MX100 cells resulted in an increased mitoxantrone sensitivity, as manifested by a significantly lower IC50 value (2.46 +/- 1.64 microM) when compared to the control (151 +/- 32 microM). Together, these findings suggest that miR-328 targets ABCG2 3'-UTR and consequently, controls ABCG2 protein expression and influences drug disposition in human breast cancer cells. |
