S earlier described [17,18]. For MCF-7/AZ cell line, due to its lower expression of P-cadherin, 50 mg of total protein lysate has been loaded; for BT-20, due to its P-cadherin overexpression, the gel loading was done only with 20 mg of protein lysate. Membranes were incubated with primary antibodies according to the conditions described in Table S1.Results P-cadherin is co-expressed with C/EBPb and is regulated by this transcription factor in 4EGI-1 breast cancer cellsUsing a large cohort of invasive breast carcinomas, the expression of C/EBPb was previously demonstrated to be significantly associated with P-cadherin expression in about 60 of the cases [18]; however, the cellular co-expression of these two proteins was not verified. Thus, based on the hypothesis that C/ EBPb directly activates the CDH3 gene promoter, a double immunostaining was performed in all invasive breast carcinomas that previously showed strong positivity for both proteins. As represented in Figure 1A, C/EBPb expression was found in the nuclei of the same cells that were expressing P-cadherin at the cell membrane, pointing 18325633 for a putative functional relationship between both proteins. Based on these results, two different breast cancer cell models were used to demonstrate if P-cadherin expression could be affected by C/EBPb: 1) MCF-7/AZ, which is an ER+/luminal type breast cancer cell line expressing moderate levels of Pcadherin, and 2) BT-20, an ER-negative/basal-like breast cancer cell line, highly positive for P-cadherin [17]. The siRNA mediatedknock-down of C/EBPb induced a significant downregulation of all C/EBPb isoforms (LAP1, LAP2 and LIP) in both cell lines. Interestingly, P-cadherin expression was also affected by the reduction of C/EBPb isoforms, being this effect more pronounced in MCF-7/AZ cells (Figure 1B). According with these results, andSite-Directed MutagenesisAll the C/EBPb binding sites mutations in CDH3 promoter were performed in order to impair the binding of any predicted transcription factor: bioinformatic prediction tools were used to blast all point purchase 34540-22-2 mutated sequences. To introduce point mutations in the CDH3 promoter region, the QuickChange Site-directed Mutagenesis Protocol (Stratagene, Cedar Creek, USA) was followed, and the oligos used are listed in Table S2. The PCR cycles were set as follows: 95uC for 30 seconds; 16 cycles of 95uC for 30 seconds, 55uC for 1 minute, and 68uC for 5 minutes. Following PCR reaction, products were incubated with DpnI (1 hour at 37uC) and transformed into E-coli competent cells (Stratagene). All mutated plasmids were checked by sequencing and primer sequences are also listed in Table S2.Chromatin Immunoprecipitation (ChIP) AssayFor chromatin immunoprecipitation of the endogenous CDH3 promoter regions in MCF-7/AZ cells, the ChIP-ITTM kit (Active Motif) was used and the assay was performed according with theC/EBPb Targets CDH3 Gene in Breast Cancer CellsC/EBPb Targets CDH3 Gene in Breast Cancer CellsFigure 1. Association and regulatory interplay between C/EBPb and CDH3/P-cadherin expression in breast cancer cells. A) Double immunostaining for C/EBPb and P-cadherin of an invasive breast carcinoma specimen (basal-like carcinoma, histological grade III), where it can be observed C/EBPb expression in the nuclei and P-cadherin at the cell membrane of tumour cells (magnification 6200 and 6400-inset); a haematoxylineosin staining of this same case is shown to ascertain tissue integrity (magnification 6100); B) Using C/EBP.S earlier described [17,18]. For MCF-7/AZ cell line, due to its lower expression of P-cadherin, 50 mg of total protein lysate has been loaded; for BT-20, due to its P-cadherin overexpression, the gel loading was done only with 20 mg of protein lysate. Membranes were incubated with primary antibodies according to the conditions described in Table S1.Results P-cadherin is co-expressed with C/EBPb and is regulated by this transcription factor in breast cancer cellsUsing a large cohort of invasive breast carcinomas, the expression of C/EBPb was previously demonstrated to be significantly associated with P-cadherin expression in about 60 of the cases [18]; however, the cellular co-expression of these two proteins was not verified. Thus, based on the hypothesis that C/ EBPb directly activates the CDH3 gene promoter, a double immunostaining was performed in all invasive breast carcinomas that previously showed strong positivity for both proteins. As represented in Figure 1A, C/EBPb expression was found in the nuclei of the same cells that were expressing P-cadherin at the cell membrane, pointing 18325633 for a putative functional relationship between both proteins. Based on these results, two different breast cancer cell models were used to demonstrate if P-cadherin expression could be affected by C/EBPb: 1) MCF-7/AZ, which is an ER+/luminal type breast cancer cell line expressing moderate levels of Pcadherin, and 2) BT-20, an ER-negative/basal-like breast cancer cell line, highly positive for P-cadherin [17]. The siRNA mediatedknock-down of C/EBPb induced a significant downregulation of all C/EBPb isoforms (LAP1, LAP2 and LIP) in both cell lines. Interestingly, P-cadherin expression was also affected by the reduction of C/EBPb isoforms, being this effect more pronounced in MCF-7/AZ cells (Figure 1B). According with these results, andSite-Directed MutagenesisAll the C/EBPb binding sites mutations in CDH3 promoter were performed in order to impair the binding of any predicted transcription factor: bioinformatic prediction tools were used to blast all point mutated sequences. To introduce point mutations in the CDH3 promoter region, the QuickChange Site-directed Mutagenesis Protocol (Stratagene, Cedar Creek, USA) was followed, and the oligos used are listed in Table S2. The PCR cycles were set as follows: 95uC for 30 seconds; 16 cycles of 95uC for 30 seconds, 55uC for 1 minute, and 68uC for 5 minutes. Following PCR reaction, products were incubated with DpnI (1 hour at 37uC) and transformed into E-coli competent cells (Stratagene). All mutated plasmids were checked by sequencing and primer sequences are also listed in Table S2.Chromatin Immunoprecipitation (ChIP) AssayFor chromatin immunoprecipitation of the endogenous CDH3 promoter regions in MCF-7/AZ cells, the ChIP-ITTM kit (Active Motif) was used and the assay was performed according with theC/EBPb Targets CDH3 Gene in Breast Cancer CellsC/EBPb Targets CDH3 Gene in Breast Cancer CellsFigure 1. Association and regulatory interplay between C/EBPb and CDH3/P-cadherin expression in breast cancer cells. A) Double immunostaining for C/EBPb and P-cadherin of an invasive breast carcinoma specimen (basal-like carcinoma, histological grade III), where it can be observed C/EBPb expression in the nuclei and P-cadherin at the cell membrane of tumour cells (magnification 6200 and 6400-inset); a haematoxylineosin staining of this same case is shown to ascertain tissue integrity (magnification 6100); B) Using C/EBP.