Integrin-Mediated Stimulation of HIF-1 alpha and Angiogenesis in Breast Cancer

摘要

Understanding the mechanisms involved in the progression from carcinoma in situ to metastatic disease is one of the most important problems in breast cancer research. To this end, studies by our group and others have implicated a critical role for the alpha 6 integrins in breast cancer progression The goal of this IDEA proposal is to define the mechanism by which an integrin, such as the alpha 6 integrins contributes to the survival of metastatic breast carcinoma cells. We postulated that these integrins regulate the expression of HIF-1 alpha, a key regulator of VEGF expression and angiogenesis in breast and other cancers. During the first year of this grant, we have made considerable progress that substantiates our hypothesis. The first finding was unexpected but significant.