Function of the myb Proto-oncogene in Breast Cancer

摘要

The purpose and scope of ongoing studies are examination of the mechanisticinvolvement of c-myb in signaling events leading to inappropriate interpretation of growth signals in ER+/PR+ breast carcinoma. In this annual report, while early problems related to generation of high level c-myb expressing MCF-7 cell clones have been encountered, preliminary results indicate that transfection of c-myb may partly abrogate the requirement for estrogen in MCF-7 growth, a result critical to proof that c-myb is a critical component of estrogen signaling in estrogen responsive breast tumor cell lines. In addition, novel expression patterns of other myb family members along with divergent regulatory patterns indicates a unique pattern of expression for myb family members in breast tumor cells. These results imply a broader role than originally hypothesized for myb family members in breast tumor cell differentiation and proliferation and represent data critical to completion of the current project. The novel expression pattern of myb family members also forms an important base for a more general exploration of myb family members in breast development and tumorigenesis in the future.