Identifying molecular pathway signatures for the growth and maintenance of human CD 44+/24- stem cell-like breast cancer cell populations

Lellean JeBailey, Ph.D., Application Scientist, Thomson Reuters

Date: September 28^th , 2011
Time: 10am San Francisco | 1pm New York

It is well established that breast cancer is a heterogeneous disease composed of distinct subtypes, each associated with different clinical outcomes. The work of Polyak et. al. has been dedicated to understanding the mechanisms driving heterogeneity to facilitate the development of targeted cancer-preventative and -therapeutic interventions. Polyak et. al. have previously determined that the microenvironment along with epigenetic and molecular attributes participate in defining breast cancer subtypes including the highly metastatic basal and luminal classes. Here, we summarize an extension of subclass characterisation in signalling mechanism and pathway terms. The focus of this webinar will be on two classes of human breast tumor cell populations; the CD44⁺CD24^- population that have stem cell-like characteristics, and the CD44^-CD24⁺ population that resemble more differentiated breast cancer cells. The key findings discussed include:

• The identification of a 15-gene signature required for cell growth or proliferation in CD44⁺CD24^- cells from a large scale loss-of-function screen
• Pathway analysis to identify a “Stat3” signature through inhibition of several of the 15-gene signature
• The consequences of activating/ inhibiting an IL-6/JAK2/Stat3 pathway in CD4⁺CD24^- breast cancer cells

Click here to download a recording of the webinar.