Genetic profile analysis of tumor stem cells in locally advanced breast cancer

• Grant number: 13/24757-3
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Doctorate
• Start date: April 01, 2014
• End date: March 31, 2015
• Field of knowledge: Health Sciences - Medicine
• Principal Investigator: Daniel Guimarães Tiezzi
• Grantee: Willian Abraham da Silveira
• Supervisor: Charles Theillet
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Medicina de Ribeirão Preto (FMRP). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Ribeirão Preto , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Institut de Recherche en Cancérologie de Montpellier (IRCM), France
• Associated to the scholarship: 11/19758-5 - Genetic profile analysis of tumor stem cells in locally advanced breast cancer, BP.DR

Abstract

The breast cancer is the most common cancer in women worldwide and the metastatic dissemination is the principal factor related to death by this disease. Breast tumors are highly heterogeneous and are classified based (1) histology, (2) the expression of ER and PR and HER2 and (3) differentiation state/gene expression profiles into subtypes. The model concerning expression profiles refined by the group of Dr. Charles Theillet in 2012, depicting six subtypes with different degrees of aggressiveness and differentiation. Once the hierarchical model was accepted to explain cancer behavior, the its primordial cells was designed as cancer stem cells (CSC). Is possible that this cells are involved in the heterogeneity, in the different differentiation degree of cells in the tumor and in resistance to neoadjuvant chemotherapy. The aim of this project is unravel both the expression profile differences between breast cancer stem cells from tumors of patients responsive and unresponsive to neoadjuvant chemotherapy and the difference between the cancer stem cell subpopulation and the bulk of the tumor. For that, we will analyze the expression profile of breast cancer cell line models, patient derived xenografts and tumor samples from patients diagnosed with locally advanced breast cancer collect previously to the beginning of the treatment. The current proposal is linked to the project "Genetic profile analysis of tumor stem cells in locally advanced breast cancer", FAPESP grant number 11/19758-5. (AU)