Project 4 has been a leader in revealing the myriad roles played by microRNAs in human cancer. We will build upon this foundation with an increased biological focus on breast cancer. We will isolate the six, well defined mammary epithelial cell types from normal virgin and parous female mice and define their miRNA and mRNA expression profiles. In so doing, we hope to better define the mammary stem cell (MaSC) and gain an appreciation for the pathways that maintain its self-renewal. This will include a definition of miRNAs and miRNA targets that are important in the MaSC. Using normal cells as a reference point, we will work to understand the relafionship between mammary tumor initiating cells and normal mammary stem cells. In part, we aim to test the relevance of tumor initiating populations, which thus far have only been detected in transplantation studies, to breast cancer in in vivo models of basal tumorigenesis. We hope to identify pathways that determine tumor initiating potential and to relate these to self-renewal pathways used by mammary stem cells. We appreciate that both normal and tumor cells function in context, and we will therefore strive to understand how the in vivo niche supports MaSC self-renewal. Similarly, we will ask whether tumor initiating cells occupy a niche or whether their special status is a cell autonomous property. With the realization that it is usually metastatic disease that kills patients, we will also probe the niches occupied by disseminated tumor cells, which can lie dormant for decades following initial treatment before they progress to frank metastases. Using a series of highly innovative strategies, including molecular profiling, RNAi-based genetics, and sophisticated imaging a whole, this Project takes a comprehensive approach to understanding the roles of miRNAs in breast cancer.

Public Health Relevance

One in every 8 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer in her lifetime. Despite substantial progress in molecular phenotyping and targeted therapy, we still lack the capacity to manage disease in the long term for more than 75% of women. The work proposed herein will deepen our understanding of breast cancer and may reveal new strategies for targeted intervention, particularly in the prevention of metastatic disease.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Cancer Institute (NCI)
Type
Research Program Projects (P01)
Project #
5P01CA013106-43
Application #
8744360
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (ZCA1-RPRB-0)
Project Start
Project End
Budget Start
2014-01-01
Budget End
2014-12-31
Support Year
43
Fiscal Year
2014
Total Cost
$638,782
Indirect Cost
$303,334
Name
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Department
Type
DUNS #
065968786
City
Cold Spring Harbor
State
NY
Country
United States
Zip Code
11724
On, Kin Fan; Jaremko, Matt; Stillman, Bruce et al. (2018) A structural view of the initiators for chromosome replication. Curr Opin Struct Biol 53:131-139
Knott, Simon R V; Wagenblast, Elvin; Khan, Showkhin et al. (2018) Asparagine bioavailability governs metastasis in a model of breast cancer. Nature 554:378-381
Shamay, Yosi; Shah, Janki; I??k, Mehtap et al. (2018) Quantitative self-assembly prediction yields targeted nanomedicines. Nat Mater 17:361-368
Tramentozzi, Elisa; Ferraro, Paola; Hossain, Manzar et al. (2018) The dNTP triphosphohydrolase activity of SAMHD1 persists during S-phase when the enzyme is phosphorylated at T592. Cell Cycle 17:1102-1114
Arun, Gayatri; Diermeier, Sarah D; Spector, David L (2018) Therapeutic Targeting of Long Non-Coding RNAs in Cancer. Trends Mol Med 24:257-277
Tarumoto, Yusuke; Lu, Bin; Somerville, Tim D D et al. (2018) LKB1, Salt-Inducible Kinases, and MEF2C Are Linked Dependencies in Acute Myeloid Leukemia. Mol Cell 69:1017-1027.e6
Xu, Yali; Milazzo, Joseph P; Somerville, Tim D D et al. (2018) A TFIID-SAGA Perturbation that Targets MYB and Suppresses Acute Myeloid Leukemia. Cancer Cell 33:13-28.e8
Huang, Yu-Han; Klingbeil, Olaf; He, Xue-Yan et al. (2018) POU2F3 is a master regulator of a tuft cell-like variant of small cell lung cancer. Genes Dev 32:915-928
Livshits, Geulah; Alonso-Curbelo, Direna; Morris 4th, John P et al. (2018) Arid1a restrains Kras-dependent changes in acinar cell identity. Elife 7:
Tiriac, Hervé; Belleau, Pascal; Engle, Dannielle D et al. (2018) Organoid Profiling Identifies Common Responders to Chemotherapy in Pancreatic Cancer. Cancer Discov 8:1112-1129

Showing the most recent 10 out of 610 publications