Triple-negative breast cancer metastasis involves complex epithelial-mesenchymal transition dynamics and requires vimentin.

ABSTRACT: Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is an aggressive subtype associated with early metastatic recurrence and worse patient outcomes. TNBC tumors express molecular markers of the epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), but its requirement during spontaneous TNBC metastasis in vivo remains incompletely understood. We demonstrated that spontaneous TNBC tumors from a genetically engineered mouse model (GEMM), multiple patient-derived xenografts, and archival patient samples exhibited large populations in vivo of hybrid E/M cells that lead invasion ex vivo while expressing both epithelial and mesenchymal characteristics. The mesenchymal marker vimentin promoted invasion and repressed metastatic outgrowth. We next tested the requirement for five EMT transcription factors and observed distinct

SUBMITTER: Grasset EM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9801390 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature