Genome-Wide Approaches to Detecting Stromal-Epithelial Interactions in Breast Cancer

摘要

The work done to date has helped to better characterize the breast cancer microenvironment. We have confirmed that the expression normal adjacent tissue is not distinct from healthy breast reduction tissue. The genes specific to normal epithelium also identify basal-like breast tumors, potentially explaining their resistance to treatment. The interactions involving the tumor immune cells have the strongest detectable signals using the methods developed by this project. We are the first group to characterize the expression of the blood vessels in breast cancer. We have confirmed the presence of low-density mature vessels and high-density immature vessels. Surprisingly, the expression from those mature tumor vessels more closely match the characteristics of tumor vessels in other cancers. This will open new roads for a better understanding of neo-vascularization in breast cancer as well as helping to target treatment more effectively. Our work in mouse models has also identified osteoactivin as a potential effector of bone metastasis.