Antibodies toward Na,HCO-cotransporter NBCn1/SLC4A7 block net acid extrusion and cause pH-dependent growth inhibition and apoptosis in breast cancer.

Background: Na,HCO-cotransporter NBCn1/Slc4a7 accelerates murine breast carcinogenesis. Lack of specific pharmacological tools previously restricted therapeutic targeting of NBCn1 and identification of NBCn1-dependent functions in human breast cancer.

Methods: We develop extracellularly-targeted anti-NBCn1 antibodies, screen for functional activity on cells, and evaluate (a) mechanisms of intracellular pH regulation in human primary breast carcinomas, (b) proliferation, cell death, and tumor growth consequences of NBCn1 in triple-negative breast cancer, and (c) association of NBCn1-mediated Na,HCO-cotransport with human breast cancer metastasis.

Results: We identify high-affinity (K ≈ 0.14 nM) anti-NBCn1 antibodies that block human NBCn1-mediated Na,HCO-cotransport in cells, without cross-reactivity towards human NBCe1 or murine NBCn1. These anti-NBCn1 antibodies abolish Na,HCO-cotransport activity in freshly isolated primary organoids from human breast carcinomas and lower net acid extrusion effectively in primary breast cancer tissue from patients with macrometastases in axillary lymph nodes. Inhibitory anti-NBCn1 antibodies decelerate tumor growth in vivo by ~50% in a patient-derived xenograft model of triple-negative breast cancer and pH-dependently reduce colony formation, cause G2/M-phase cell cycle accumulation, and increase apoptosis of metastatic triple-negative breast cancer cells in vitro.

Conclusions: Inhibitory anti-NBCn1 antibodies block net acid extrusion in human breast cancer tissue, particularly from patients with disseminated disease, and pH-dependently limit triple-negative breast cancer growth.