Organic anion transporting polypeptides (OATP, gene symbol SLCO) are well-recognized key determinants for the absorption, distribution, and excretion of a wide spectrum of endogenous and exogenous compounds including many antineoplastic agents. It was therefore proposed as a potential drug target for cancer therapy. In our previous study, it was found that low-dose X-ray and carbon ion irradiation both upregulated the expression of OATP family member OATP1A2 and in turn, led to a more dramatic killing effect when cancer cells were cotreated with antitumor drugs such as methotrexate. In the present study, the underlying mechanism of the phenomenon was explored in breast cancer cell line MCF-7. It was found that the nonreceptor tyrosine kinase v-YES-1 Yamaguchi sarcoma viral oncogene homolog 1 (YES-1) was temporally coordinated with the change of OATP1A2 after irradiation. The overexpression of YES-1 significantly increased OATP1A2 both at the mRNA and protein level. The signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3) pathway is likely the downstream target of YES-1 because phosphorylation and nuclear accumulation of STAT3 were both enhanced after overexpressing YES-1 in MCF-7 cells. Further investigation revealed that there are two possible binding sites of STAT3 localized at the upstream sequence of SLCO1A2, the encoding gene of OATP1A2. Electrophoretic mobility shift assay and chromatin immunoprecipitation analysis suggested that these two sites bound to STAT3 specifically and the overexpression of YES-1 significantly increased the association of the transcription factor with the putative binding sites. Finally, inhibition or knockdown of YES-1 attenuated the induction effect of radiation on the expression of OATP1A2.

SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT The present study found that the effect of X-rays on v-YES-1 Yamaguchi sarcoma viral oncogene homolog 1 (YES-1) and organic anion transporting polypeptides (OATP)1A2 was temporally coordinated. YES-1 phosphorylates and increases the nuclear accumulation of signal transducer and activator of transcription 3, which in turn binds to the upstream regulatory sequences of SLCO1A2, the coding gene for OATP1A2. Hence, inhibitors of YES-1 may suppress the radiation induction effect on OATP1A2.

This work was supported in part by grants from the Basic and Applied Basic Research Foundation of Guangdong Province [Grant 2022A1515010552] and the National Natural Science Foundation of China [Grants U1832101 and 11335011] (to M.H.).

↵1 Z.W. and J.Y. contributed equally to this work.

No author has an actual or perceived conflict of interest with the contents of this article.

dx.doi.org/10.1124/dmd.124.001755.

↵This article has supplemental material available at dmd.aspetjournals.org.