Chromatin immunoprecipitation of estrogen receptor in human breast cancer cells (MCF-7) treated with estrogen

Cross talk between the Estrogen Receptor (ER) and ErbB2/HER-2 pathways have long been implicated in breast cancer aetiology and drug response1, yet no direct connection at a transcriptional level has been shown. We now show that estrogen-ER and tamoxifen-ER complexes directly repress ErbB2 transcription via a cis-regulatory element within the ERBB2 gene. We implicate the Paired Box 2 gene product (Pax2), in a novel role, as a crucial mediator of ER repression of ErbB2 by the anti-cancer drug tamoxifen. We show that Pax2 and the ER co-activator AIB-1/SRC-3 compete for binding and regulation of ErbB2 transcription, the outcome of which determines tamoxifen response in breast cancer cells. The repression of ErbB2 by ER-Pax2 links these two important breast cancer subtypes and suggests that aggressive ErbB2 positive tumours can originate from ER positive luminal tumours by circumventing this repressive mechanism. These data provide mechanistic insight into the molecular basis of endocrine resistance in breast cancer.