Subtype-specific divergent roles of calpain-1 and calpain-2 in basal A triple-negative breast cancer

CAPN-1 and CAPN-2, two ubiquitously expressed calpains, have been implicated in cancer progression, but their distinct roles in breast cancer remain poorly defined. This study aims to define the opposing roles of CAPN-1 and CAPN-2 in breast cancer progression, with a focus on their regulatory impact on cell proliferation. Since these calpains may have different functions in the mammary gland, we aimed to investigate the possible antagonistic roles of CAPN-1 and CAPN-2 in breast cancer progression, focusing on their expression patterns and functional impact on cell proliferation. We analyzed breast cancer cell lines using immunoblotting and real-time cellular assays, showing that HCC1937 cells exhibit an opposite expression pattern of CAPN-1 and CAPN-2 compared to non-cancerous breast cells. CAPN-1 promoted cancer cell survival and negatively regulated CAPN-2 at both the protein and mRNA levels, whereas CAPN-2 suppressed proliferation. Additionally, the calpain activator AG-08 triggered cell death through CAPN-2 but not CAPN-1. In silico analysis confirmed higher CAPN-1 and lower CAPN-2 expression levels in breast cancer samples compared to normal tissue. These findings indicate that CAPN-1 and CAPN-2 may exert antagonistic roles in breast cancer, but importantly, this effect was restricted to HCC1937 cells, representing a basal A TNBC subtype. Validation in additional basal A models and patient-derived samples will be essential to confirm these results. Our study, therefore, provides preliminary, model-specific insights into calpain regulation in TNBC and suggests that future therapeutic strategies should carefully account for subtype heterogeneity.