A Model of Dormant-Emergent Metastatic Breast Cancer Progression Enabling Exploration of Biomarker Signatures.

ABSTRACT: Breast cancer mortality predominantly results from dormant micrometastases that emerge as fatal outgrowths years after initial diagnosis. In order to gain insights concerning factors associated with emergence of liver metastases, we recreated spontaneous dormancy in an all-human ex vivo hepatic microphysiological system (MPS). Seeding this MPS with small numbers (<0.05% by cell count) of the aggressive MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cell line, two populations formed: actively proliferating ("growing"; EdU⁺), and spontaneously quiescent ("dormant"; EdU^-). Following treatment with a clinically standard chemotherapeutic, the proliferating cells were eliminated and only quiescent cells remained; this residual dormant population could then be induced to a proliferative st

SUBMITTER: Clark AM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5880110 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature