Analysis of the Link Between Acquired Expression of a Master Switch Gene of Osteoblast Differentiation by Breast Cancer and Bone Metastasis

摘要

Bone metastasis of breast cancer is a major cause of death among breast cancer patients. However, we still know relatively little about why many breast cancers metastasize to the bone. To develop better treatments of bone - metastasis of breast cancer, we need to understand how breast cancer cells acquire the abilities to move to the bone, survive in the new environment, and flourish as metastatic tumors. We postulate that one potential mechanism by which breast cancer cells may acquire such abilities is their acquired expression of bone specific proteins that are known to be involved in mediating the activities of the bone-forming cells in the bone tissue, the - osteoblasts. In this study, we attempted to address the critical question of whether the expression of a master gene for the development of bone-forming osteoblast cells, CBFAl, by the breast cancer cells leads to bone metastasis in an established animal model system. To do this, we manipulated the expression of this gene in established human breast cancer cell lines and planned to -monitor the ability of those cancer cells to grow in the bone as metastases. A positive finding from such studies will pave the way for the development of potential therapeutic agents for the treatment of this horrifying disease.