Expression of PRIP, a phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate binding protein, attenuates PI3K/AKT signaling and suppresses tumor growth in a xenograft mouse model

Cancer is characterized by uncontrolled proliferation resulting from aberrant cell cycle progression. The activation of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K)/AKT signaling, a regulatory pathway for the cell cycle, stabilizes cyclin D1 in the G1 phase by inhibiting the activity of glycogen synthase kinase 3β (GSK3β) via phosphorylation. We previously reported that phospholipase C-related catalytically inactive protein (PRIP), a phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate [PI(4,5)P₂] binding protein, regulates PI3K/AKT signaling by competitively inhibiting substrate recognition by PI3K. Therefore, in this study, we investigated whether PRIP is involved in cell cycle progression. PRIP silencing in MCF-7 cells, a human breast cancer cell line, demonstrated PI(3,4,5)P₃ signals accumulated at the cell periphery compared to that of the control. This suggests that PRIP reduction enhances PI(3,4,5)P₃-mediated signaling. Consistently, PRIP silencing in MCF-7 cells exhibited increased phosphorylation of AKT and GSK3β which resulted in cyclin D1 accumulation. In contrast, the exogenous expression of PRIP in MCF-7 cells evidenced stronger downregulation of AKT and GSK3β phosphorylation, reduced accumulation of cyclin D1, and diminished cell proliferation in comparison to control cells. Flow cytometry analysis indicated that MCF-7 cells stably expressing PRIP attenuate cell cycle progression. Importantly, tumor growth of MCF-7 cells stably expressing PRIP was considerably prevented in an in vivo xenograft mouse model. In conclusion, PRIP expression downregulates PI3K/AKT/GSK3β-mediated cell cycle progression and suppresses tumor growth. Therefore, we propose that PRIP is a new therapeutic target for anticancer therapy.