Title:
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The role of the immune system in triple negative
breast cancer progression : proteomics
investigation of the molecular mechanisms
underlining cell survival, invasion and metastasis
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This study describes the development of a quantitative tumour proteomics methodology
and its implementation to study a type of breast cancer known as triple negative. The .
quantitative proteomics technique deyeloped in the course of the study uses label-free mass
spectrometry and size-based protein separation combined with bioinformatics and allows
unlimited number of tumour samples to be analysed and compared in a highly automated
manner. The methodology was applied to identify candidate biomarkers and drug targets for
potential new therapies for triple-negative breast cancer. Another set of experiments builds on
some of these findings, the surprising overexpression of interferon gamma-regulated genes in
the lymph node-metastatic group of the analysed tumours, and examines the effect of
interferon gamma on the water soluble and membrane-bound proteins of the metastatic triplenegative
breast cancer cell line MOA MB231. A number of soluble and membrane proteins are
identified to be affected by interferon gamma - notably proteins known to be involved in
metastasis and calcium ion binding and calcium -regulated proteins. In a parallel line of
investigation the effect of one of the proteins found to be overexpressed in lymph nodemetastatic
triple-negative tumours, (074, on the proteome and phosphoproteome of another
breast cancer cell line, M(F7 is examined. Overexpression of (074 is shown to cause sustai[1ed
activation of the ERK1/2 module and also phosphorylation of the focal adhesion kinases
FAK1/2. The activation of ERK1/2 is then validated by immunochemical techniques and shown
to be synergistically regulated by calcium ions since calcium and (074 overexpression result in
the strongest activation of the mitogen-activated protein kinase module. Thus, the quantitative
phosphoproteomics studies again pinpoint calcium homeostasis, together with inflammation and mechanisms that are regulated by cytokines as important factors that contribute to the
aggressiveness of triple-negative breast cancer.
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