Project description:<p>In order to enhance our understanding of the genetic etiology of breast cancer, this study analyzed 1,265,548 Hapmap3 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) among a discovery set of 3,523 EOBC incident cases and 2,702 age-matched population control women, all of whom were age 50 or younger at enrollment. Subjects were recruited from the eight sites, some of which oversampled cases with a personal or family history of breast cancer.</p>
Project description:Small GTPase proteins usually serve as molecular switches in various biological process, such as the proliferation, survival, and migration of cells. Mutations or aberrant activations of small GTPase proteins, such as Ras, are frequently observed in various kinds of cancers. Drug discovery efforts that target the Ras family proteins are making breakthroughs, while the discovery of efficient inhibitors that target the Rho family proteins is still stagnant. Protein members from the Rho family, such as RhoA and Cdc42, are key regulators of the migration and invasion of cancer cells. Thus inhibitors of the Rho family proteins are promising to become drug candidates that target cancer metastasis, which is a principal cause of cancer recurrence and chemotherapy failure. Here we show the discovery and characterization of a novel covalent inhibitor named DC-RC-063 that targets the Rho family proteins, using a combined approach of computations and experiments. Revealed by solved crystal structures, compound DC-RC-063 inhibited the activation of RhoA, by disrupting protein-protein interactions, in an allosteric manner. As compound DC-RC-063 inhibited the migration and invasion of breast cancer MDA-MB-231 cells, our findings proved that the Rho family proteins are targetable for covalent inhibitors via an allosteric mechanism. The novel binding site revealed by this inhibitor can be exploited for further development of anti-cancer drugs that target cancer metastasis.
Project description:We obtained peripheral blood samples for women from Utah (USA) and Ontario (Canada) who had a family history of breast cancer (or did not), who carried a BRCA1/2 mutation (or did not), and who had developed breast cancer (or had not). We classified the women into two groups: [1] those who had a family history of breast cancer (irrespective of BRCA1/2 mutation status) and had developed an early-onset breast tumor and [2] those who had a family history of breast cancer but had not developed a breast tumor or who did not have a family history of breast cancer (some of whom had developed sporadic breast cancer and and others who had not). We then used machine-learning methods to assess how well we could classify these women into either group. The Utah samples served as a training set, and the Ontario samples served as an independent validation set from a geographically distinct population. For the Utah cohort, there are 124 samples total: 16 who had a family history of breast cancer and carried a BRCA mutation and had developed breast cancer, 23 with a family history of breast cancer but did not carry a BRCA1/2 mutation and had developed breast cancer, 22 with a family history of breast cancer and carried a BRCA1/2 mutation but had not developed breast cancer, 22 with a family history of breast cancer but did not carry a BRCA1/2 mutation and had not developed breast cancer, 22 with no family history of breast cancer and had developed breast cancer, and 19 with no family history of breast cancer and had not developed breast cancer. The Ontario cohort included 73 samples: 11 who had a family history of breast cancer and carried a BRCA mutation and had developed breast cancer, 17 with a family history of breast cancer but did not carry a BRCA1/2 mutation and had developed breast cancer, 14 with a family history of breast cancer and carried a BRCA1/2 mutation but had not developed breast cancer, 18 with a family history of breast cancer but did not carry a BRCA1/2 mutation and had not developed breast cancer, 8 with no family history of breast cancer and had developed breast cancer, and 5 with no family history of breast cancer and had not developed breast cancer. 36 of the Ontario samples were scanned and processed at Duke University; the remaining 37 samples were handled at Boston University. The batch-adjustment process was repeated twice independently: [1] all 124 Utah samples were adjusted jointly with the 36 Ontario samples that had been processed at Duke University (set 1) and [2] all 124 Utah samples were adjusted jointly with the 37 Ontario samples that had been processed at Boston University (set 2). This dataset represents set 1.