Discovery and Characterization of Functional Breast Cancer Microproteins
Abstract
The overarching challenge we are addressing in this proposal is the identification of new drivers of breast cancer growth and determining how to stop growth using this new information. There is still no cure for breast cancer, a disease that afflicts hundreds of thousands every year, though terrific gains have been made in treating this condition. The gains we’ve made so far in treating breast cancer have depended on scientific discoveries that provided actionable knowledge that was used to develop new medicines. Continued improvement in treating breast cancer and eventually curing this disease will require an even better understanding of what causes and drives breast cancer. We believe that a recent discovery from our lab is likely to provide a better understanding of breast cancer. Specifically, we recently developed a new technology that uncovered the existence of ~4,000 new human genes — a 20% increase over the current number. The identification of these new genes is fascinating because we believe that some of these new genes can provide a better understanding of breast cancer, which will provide better treatments for this insidious disease. Before we get to that point, however, we have to figure out how many of these new genes are found in breast cancer cells and which of these new genes are responsible for making cells cancerous. If we can figure this out, we can use that information to develop new methods to diagnose and treat breast cancer. In this proposal, we outline a project to identify all of these hidden genes in breast cancer cells, and then we will characterize the roles of these genes in driving breast cancer. The successful completion of this proposal will provide new insights that can better diagnose, treat, and eventually cure breast cancer. We expect the first clinical results from these results to come in about 10 years. Though this is a long time since no one has studied these genes before, there is a unique opportunity to genuinely groundbreaking discovery that can revolutionize the way we eventually breast cancer.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Oct 29, 2018
- Source ID
- W81XWH1810421
Entities
People
- Alan Saghatelian
Organizations
- Salk Institute for Biological Studies
- United States Army