Characterizing an EMT Signature in Breast Cancer

Abstract

Breast cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in women in the United States, effecting women of all races and ethnicities. Breast cancer mortality results from the tumor acquiring the ability to invade and metastasize to different sites in the body. In order to invade and mestastasize, cancer cells must first dissociate from one another and become motile. This process mirrors the epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), a highly conserved process in embryonic development that occurs during tissue patterning. During EMT, epithelial cells lose polarity and the ability to make cell-cell contacts by altering the expression of several genes, ultimately leading to a more migratory, fibroblast-like "mesenchymal" cell phenotype. There is strong evidence EMT occurs, at least transiently, during breast cancer progression [1] and we propose to exploit the phenotypic differences between "epithelial-like" and "fibroblast-like" breast cancer cell lines in culture to explore the mechanisms of EMT.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Apr 01, 2010
Accession Number
ADA534258

Entities

People

  • Melanie C. Bocanegra

Organizations

  • Stanford University

Tags

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Biomedical Research
  • Breast Cancer
  • Cancer
  • Cell Line
  • Cell Movement
  • Cells
  • Clinical Trials
  • Department Of Defense
  • Diseases And Disorders
  • Epithelial Cells
  • Fibroblasts
  • Gene Expression
  • Genes
  • Neoplasms
  • Small Molecules
  • Tyrosine
  • United States

Fields of Study

  • Biology

Readers

  • Immunology and Pathology
  • Oncology (Cancer Research).
  • Women's Health and Cancer Risk Research: African American Women and Pregnancy Outcomes.