The emergence of multidrug resistance is always associated with more rapid tumor recurrence and metastasis. P-glycoprotein (P-gp), which is a well-known multidrug-efflux transporter, confers enhanced invasion ability in drug-resistant cells. Previous studies have shown that P-gp probably exerts its tumor-promoting function via protein-protein interaction. These interactions were implicated in the activation of intracellular signal transduction. We previously showed that P-gp binds to Anxa2 and promotes the invasiveness of multidrug-resistant (MDR) breast cancer cells through regulation of Anxa2 phosphorylation. However, the accurate mechanism remains unclear. In the present study, a co-immunoprecipitation coupled with liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry-based interactomic approach was performed to screen P-gp binding proteins. We identified Rack1 as a novel P-gp binding protein. Knockdown of Rack1 significantly inhibited proliferation and invasion of MDR cancer cells. Mechanistic studies demonstrated that Rack1 functioned as a scaffold protein that mediated the binding of P-gp to Anxa2 and Src. We showed that Rack1 regulated P-gp activity, which was necessary for adriamycin-induced P-gp-mediated phosphorylation of Anxa2 and Erk1/2. Overall, the findings in this study augment novel insights to the understanding of the mechanism employed by P-gp for promoting migration and invasion of MDR cancer cells.
Keywords: Anxa2; MDR; P-glycoprotein; Rack1; Src; breast cancer; invasion.