MSC-Regulated MicroRNAs Converge on the Transcription Factor FOXP2 and Promote Breast Cancer Metastasis

Mesenchymal stem/stromal cells (MSCs) are progenitor cells shown to participate in breast tumor stroma formation and to promote metastasis. Despite expanding knowledge of their contributions to breast malignancy, the underlying molecular responses of breast cancer cells (BCCs) to MSC influences remain incompletely understood. Here, we show that MSCs cause aberrant expression of microRNAs, which, led by microRNA-199a, provide BCCs with enhanced cancer stem cell (CSC) properties. We demonstrate that such MSC-deregulated microRNAs constitute a network that converges on and represses the expression of FOXP2, a forkhead transcription factor tightly associated with speech and language development. FOXP2 knockdown in BCCs was sufficient in promoting CSC propagation, tumor initiation, and metastasis. Importantly, elevated microRNA-199a and depressed FOXP2 expression levels are prominent features of malignant clinical breast cancer and are associated significantly with poor survival. Our results identify molecular determinants of cancer progression of potential utility in the prognosis and therapy of breast cancer. [Display omitted] •MSCs promote contact-dependent upregulation of miR-199a in breast cancer cells•MiR-199a represses the transcriptional regulator FOXP2•The miR-199a-FOXP2 axis propagates cancer stem cell traits and metastasis•Elevated miR-199a and depleted FOXP2 characterize malignant clinical breast cancer Cuiffo et al. show that repression of the speech-associated gene FOXP2 by a network of mesenchymal-stem-cell-regulated microRNAs facilitates the acquisition of cancer stem cell and metastatic phenotypes by breast cancer cells.