Identification of TENM4 as a Novel Cancer Stem Cell-Associated Molecule and Potential Target in Triple Negative Breast Cancer.
Cancers (Basel)
; 13(4)2021 Feb 20.
Article
en En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-33672732
ABSTRACT
Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is insensitive to endocrine and Her2-directed therapies, making the development of TNBC-targeted therapies an unmet medical need. Since patients with TNBC frequently show a quicker relapse and metastatic progression compared to other breast cancer subtypes, we hypothesized that cancer stem cells (CSC) could have a role in TNBC. To identify putative TNBC CSC-associated targets, we compared the gene expression profiles of CSC-enriched tumorspheres and their parental cells grown as monolayer. Among the up-regulated genes coding for cell membrane-associated proteins, we selected Teneurin 4 (TENM4), involved in cell differentiation and deregulated in tumors of different histotypes, as the object for this study. Meta-analysis of breast cancer datasets shows that TENM4 mRNA is up-regulated in invasive carcinoma specimens compared to normal breast and that high expression of TENM4 correlates with a shorter relapse-free survival in TNBC patients. TENM4 silencing in mammary cancer cells significantly impaired tumorsphere-forming ability, migratory capacity and Focal Adhesion Kinase (FAK) phosphorylation. Moreover, we found higher levels of TENM4 in plasma from tumor-bearing mice and TNBC patients compared to the healthy controls. Overall, our results indicate that TENM4 may act as a novel biomarker and target for the treatment of TNBC.
Texto completo:
1
Colección:
01-internacional
Base de datos:
MEDLINE
Tipo de estudio:
Diagnostic_studies
/
Risk_factors_studies
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Cancers (Basel)
Año:
2021
Tipo del documento:
Article
País de afiliación:
Italia