Project description:We analyzed a cohort of 220 early breast cancer patients with ER-positive and/or progesterone receptor (PR)-positive, HER2-negative tumors.
Project description:LSD1 (KDM1A) is a histone demethylase that plays both oncogenic and tumor suppressor roles in breast cancer. However, the exact contexts under which it plays these opposite roles remain largely elusive. By characterizing its role in normal and cancerous luminal mammary epithelial cells (MECs), here we show that LSD1 is essential for maintaining differentiation and survival of luminal cells. LSD1-inhibition by both genetic and pharmacological approaches increases invasion of luminal breast cancer cells. Mechanistically, we find LSD1 interacts with GATA3 and their common target genes are highly related to breast cancer. LSD1 positively regulates GATA3 expression and represses that of TRIM37, a histone H2A ubiquitin ligase and breast cancer oncoprotein. LSD1-loss leads to reduced expression of several cell junction genes (e.g., CDH1, VCL, CTNNA1), possibly via TRIM37-mediated repression. Collectively, our data suggest LSD1 largely plays a tumor suppressor role in luminal breast cancer and the increased MEC invasiveness associated with LSD1-inhibition can be blocked via TRIM37-inhibition.
Project description:Purpose In breast cancer, specific aberrant methylation patterns have been associated with different BC histologic and molecular subtypes and data suggest that DNA methylation profiles may play an important role in the development and progression of distinct breast subtypes. However, the epigenome of the newly defined luminal B and luminal B-HER2 positive breast cancers has not yet been characterized. Therefore the main goal of the current study is to deciphered the aberrant DNA methylation profiles associated with these breast cancer subtypes. Experimental Design 29 luminal subtype breast cancer samples along with 8 control tissue were epigenetically interrogated using the HumanMethylation27 DNA Analysis BeadChip. Results Luminal B-HER2 + subtype displays the most aggressive phenotype and shows the highest number of aberrantly methylated CpG markers. On the other hand, the luminal B subtype harbours an heterogeneous DNA methylation profile that seems to be half way between the luminal A and luminalB-HER2+ subtypes. Conclusions The heterogeneous epigenetic and genetic profile of the luminal B subtype, might indicate that a further stratification has to be done for this specific breast cancer subtype.
Project description:Transcription profiling by NanoString nCounter of primary breast tumors from 1219 patients from the Carolina Breast Cancer Study (CBCS) using the NanoString nCounter platform and normalized with NanoString nSolver software. The NanoString RNA counting assay for formalin-fixed paraffin embedded samples is unique in its sensitivity, technical reproducibility, and robustness for analysis of clinical and archival samples. While commercial normalization methods are provided by NanoString, they are not optimal for all settings, particularly when samples exhibit strong technical or biological variation or where housekeeping genes have variable performance across the cohort. Here, we develop and evaluate a more comprehensive normalization procedure for NanoString data with steps for quality control, selection of housekeeping targets, normalization, and iterative data visualization and biological validation. The approach was evaluated using a large cohort from the Carolina Breast Cancer Study. The iterative process developed here eliminates technical variation more reliably than the NanoString commercial package, without diminishing biological variation, especially in long-term longitudinal multi-phase or multi-site cohorts. We also find that probe sets validated for nCounter, such as the PAM50 gene signature, are impervious to batch issues. This work emphasizes that preprocessing of gene expression data is an important component of study design. The normalized data here is processed through the RUVSeq-based iterative framework
Project description:The transcription factor c-Myb has been well characterized as an oncogene in several human tumor types, and its expression in the hematopoietic stem/progenitor cell population is essential for proper hematopoiesis. However, the role of c-Myb in mammopoeisis and breast tumorigenesis is poorly understood, despite its high expression in the majority of breast cancer cases (60-80%). We find that c-Myb high expression in human breast tumors correlates with the luminal/ER+ phenotype and a good prognosis. RNAi knock-down of endogenous c-Myb levels in the MCF7 luminal breast tumor cell line increases tumorigenesis both in vitro and in vivo, suggesting a tumor suppressor role in luminal breast cancer. We created a mammary-derived c-Myb expression signature and found it to be highly correlated with a published mature luminal mammary cell signature and least correlated with a mammary stem/progenitor lineage gene signature. These data describe, for the first time, a tumor suppressor role for the c-Myb proto-oncogene in breast cancer that has implications for understanding luminal tumorigenesis and for guiding treatment. refXsample
Project description:Elf5 expression in mammary progenitor cells regulates a cell fate decision that establishes the alveolar cell lineage. In luminal breast cancer cells, increased Elf5 expression suppressed estrogen receptor and FoxA1 expression and was implicated in the acquisition of resistance to the cytostatic effects of antiestrogen therapy. We show that in the PyMT model of luminal breast cancer, increased Elf5 expression drives lung metastasis by recruiting myeloid-‐derived suppressor cells, and that this activity overcomes the epithelializing influence of Elf5. Breast cancer expression signatures identify a similar process in humans, and increased Elf5 immunohistochemical staining predicts poor prognosis in the luminal A subgroup. Thus Elf5 may promote escape from hormonal therapy and drive metastasis in luminal breast cancer.
Project description:Elf5 expression in mammary progenitor cells regulates a cell fate decision that establishes the alveolar cell lineage. In luminal breast cancer cells, increased Elf5 expression suppressed estrogen receptor and FoxA1 expression and was implicated in the acquisition of resistance to the cytostatic effects of antiestrogen therapy. We show that in the PyMT model of luminal breast cancer, increased Elf5 expression drives lung metastasis by recruiting myeloid-‐derived suppressor cells, and that this activity overcomes the epithelializing influence of Elf5. Breast cancer expression signatures identify a similar process in humans, and increased Elf5 immunohistochemical staining predicts poor prognosis in the luminal A subgroup. Thus Elf5 may promote escape from hormonal therapy and drive metastasis in luminal breast cancer.