Cytoplasmic Aggregation of RPB1 Predicts Failure of Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy

We aimed to investigate the contribution of co-translational protein aggregation to the chemotherapy resistance of tumor cells. Increased co-translational protein aggregation reflects altered translation regulation that may have the potential to buffer transcription under genotoxic stress. As an indicator for such event, we followed cytoplasmic aggregation of RPB1, the aggregation prone largest subunit of RNA polymerase II, in biopsy samples taken from patients with invasive carcinoma of no special type. RPB1 frequently aggregates co-translationally in the absence of proper HSP90 chaperone function or in ribosome mutant cells as revealed formerly in yeast. We found that cytoplasmic foci of RPB1 occur in larger sizes in tumors that showed no regression after therapy. Based on these results, we propose that monitoring the cytoplasmic aggregation of RPB1 may be suitable for determining – from biopsy samples taken before treatment – the effectiveness of neoadjuvant chemotherapy.