Multi-modal transcriptomic analysis unravels enrichment of hybrid epithelial/mesenchymal state and enhanced phenotypic heterogeneity in basal breast cancer.

ABSTRACT: Intra-tumoral phenotypic heterogeneity promotes tumor relapse and therapeutic resistance and remains an unsolved clinical challenge. It manifests along multiple phenotypic axes and decoding the interconnections among these different axes is crucial to understand its molecular origins and to develop novel therapeutic strategies to control it. Here, we use multi-modal transcriptomic data analysis - bulk, single-cell and spatial transcriptomics - from breast cancer cell lines and primary tumor samples, to identify associations between epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and luminal-basal plasticity - two key processes that enable heterogeneity. We show that luminal breast cancer strongly associates with an epithelial cell state, but basal breast cancer is associated with hybrid epithelial

SUBMITTER: Sahoo S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10592858 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature