Metalloproteinase-disintegrin ADAM12 is associated with a breast tumor-initiating cell phenotype.

ABSTRACT: Members of the ADAM family of proteases have been associated with mammary tumorigenesis. Gene profiling of human breast tumors identified several intrinsic subtypes of breast cancer, which differ in terms of their basic biology, response to chemotherapy/radiation, preferential sites of metastasis, and overall patient survival. Whether or not the expression of individual ADAM proteases is linked to a particular subtype of breast cancer and whether the functions of these ADAMs are relevant to the cancer subtype have not been investigated. We analyzed several transcriptomic datasets and found that ADAM12L is specifically up-regulated in claudin-low tumors. These tumors are poorly differentiated, exhibit aggressive characteristics, have molecular signatures of epithelial-to-mesenchymal transit

SUBMITTER: Li H 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3844617 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature