Role of "oncogenic nexus" of CIP2A in breast oncogenesis: how does it work?

The CIP2A gene is an oncogene associated with solid and hematologic malignancies [1]. CIP2A protein is an oncoprotein and a potential cancer therapy target [2]. Literature shows that CIP2A inhibits the tumor suppressor protein PP2A [3] which downregulates phophorylation of AKT, a hallmark of cancers [4] and stabilizes the proto-oncogene, c-MYC in tumor cells [5], the comprehensive action of CIP2A and its functional interaction(s) with other oncoproteins and tumor suppressors is not clearly established. Recently we tried to put forward a contextual mode-of-action of CIP2A protein in a review which proposed that CIP2A influences oncogenesis via an "oncogenic nexus" [1]. In this review we critically evaluated the potential relevance of the mode-of-action of the "oncogenic nexus" of CIP2A in breast carcinogenesis and appraised the role of this nexus in different PAM50 luminal A, PAM50 luminal B, PAM50 HER2-enriched and PAM50 basal BC. This review has a novel approach. Here we have not only compiled and discussed the latest developments in this field but also presented data obtained from c-BioPortal and STRING10 in order to substantiate our view regarding the mode-of-action of the "oncogenic nexus" of CIP2A. We functionally correlated alterations of genes pertaining to the "oncogenic nexus" of CIP2A with protein-protein interactions between the different components of the nexus including (1) subunits of PP2A, (2) multiple transcription factors including MYC oncogene and (3) components of the PI3K-mTOR and the MAPK-ERK oncogenic pathways. Using these proteins as "input" to STRING10 we studied the association, Action view, at the highest Confidence level. OncoPrints (c-BioPortal) showed alterations (%) of regulatory subunits genes of PP2A (PPP2R1A and PPP2R1B) along with alterations of CIP2A in breast invasive carcinoma (TCGA, Nature 2012 & TCGA, Provisional). Similar genetic alterations of PP2A were also observed in samples of breast tumors at our Avera Research Institute, SD. In an attempt to critically evaluate the role of "oncogenic nexus" of CIP2A in subtypes of BC, we used PPP2R1A and PPP2R1B as "inputs" into the STRING10 and obtained their predicted association (Action view) in respect to CIP2A. The outcome of this exercise has been discussed in the light of the literature in the BC research in the context of "oncogenic nexus" of CIP2A. In summary, herein we review the progress in our understanding of how CIP2A regulates oncogenic transformations of breast cells via PP2A-CIP2A "oncogenic nexus" and how we can prospect the clinical relevance of CIP2A in the context of BC.