c-Src inhibitor selectively inhibits triple-negative breast cancer overexpressed Vimentin in vitro and in vivo.

Oncogene c-Src has been found to be a potential target for the treatment of triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC). However, the therapeutic effects of the c-Src inhibitor on TNBC patients are controversial compared to those on cell lines. The molecular mechanisms of the inhibitory effects of the c-Src inhibitor on TNBC remain unclear. Herein, we showed that a specific c-Src inhibitor, PP2, was effective in inhibiting phosphorylation of c-Src in 4 cell lines: T-47D, SK-BR-3, SUM1315MO2, and MDA-MB-231, regardless of hormone receptors and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) expression levels. Giving PP2 preferentially reduced the S phase of cell cycles and inhibited colony formation in SUM1315MO2 and MDA-MB-231, but not in SK-BR-3 and T-47D cells. Furthermore, PP2 effectively blocked cell migration/invasion and epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) in TNBC cell lines, SUM1315MO2 and MDA-MB-231. An EMT biomarker, vimentin, was highly expressed in 2 TNBC cell lines when they were compared with SK-BR-3 and T-47D cells. Further depletion of vimentin by shRNA remarkably attenuated the inhibitory effects of the c-Src inhibitor on TNBC cells in vitro and in vivo, indicating a crucial action of vimentin to affect the function of c-Src in TNBC. This study provides an important rationale for the clinic to precisely select TNBC patients who would benefit from c-Src inhibitor treatment. This finding suggests that traditional markers for TNBC are not sufficient to precisely define this aggressive type of cancer. Vimentin is identified as an important biomarker to enable categorization of TNBC.