Cullin-3 protein expression levels correlate with breast cancer progression

Cullin-3 is a component of the Cullin-Ring ubiquitin ligase (CRL) family that plays an important role in mediating protein degradation. Deregulation of Cullin-3 expression has been observed in human cancers; however, a role for Cullin-3 in tumor progression has not been previously recognized. Using the MCF10DCIS.com human breast cancer xenograft model, we show that Cullin-3 is increasingly expressed during progression from comedo ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) to invasive carcinomas. Cullin-3 protein is not detected in early lesions but is noticeably increased in DCIS tumors and significantly overexpressed in invasive cancers. In experimental metastasis assays, high expression of Cullin-3 was observed in the lung site. Importantly, Cullin-3 staining is detected in human breast cancer tissues, not in normal breast tissues and its expression level positively correlates with tumor stage. These data suggest that Cullin-3 may play an important role in tumor progression from DCIS to invasive cancer and may serve as a biomarker for the diagnosis of aggressive breast cancer.