title: Genetic predisposition directs breast cancer phenotype by dictating progenitor cell fate.
abstract: Women with inherited mutations in the BRCA1 gene have increased risk of developing breast cancer but also exhibit a predisposition for the development of aggressive basal-like breast tumors. We report here that breast epithelial cells derived from patients harboring deleterious mutations in BRCA1 (BRCA1(mut /+) give rise to tumors with increased basal differentiation relative to cells from BRCA1+/+ patients. Molecular analysis of disease-free breast tissues from BRCA1(mut /+) patients revealed defects in progenitor cell lineage commitment even before cancer incidence. Moreover, we discovered that the transcriptional repressor Slug is an important functional suppressor of human breast progenitor cell lineage commitment and differentiation and that it is aberrantly expressed in BRCA1(mut /+) tissues. Slug expression is necessary for increased basal-like phenotypes prior to and after neoplastic transformation. These findings demonstrate that the genetic background of patient populations, in addition to affecting incidence rates, significantly impacts progenitor cell fate commitment and, therefore, tumor phenotype.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy & Cellular Biology, Sackler School of Biomedical Research, Tufts University School of Medicine, 136 Harrison Ave., Boston, MA 02111, USA.
authors.forename: Theresa A
authors.initials: TA
authors.lastname: Proia
authors.forename: Patricia J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Keller
authors.forename: Piyush B
authors.initials: PB
authors.lastname: Gupta
authors.forename: Ina
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Klebba
authors.forename: Ainsley D
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Jones
authors.forename: Maja
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sedic
authors.forename: Hannah
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Gilmore
authors.forename: Nadine
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Tung
authors.forename: Stephen P
authors.initials: SP
authors.lastname: Naber
authors.forename: Stuart
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Schnitt
authors.forename: Eric S
authors.initials: ES
authors.lastname: Lander
authors.forename: Charlotte
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Kuperwasser
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000818:Animals; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D005260:Female; D005434:Flow Cytometry; D019398:Genes, BRCA1; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D051379:Mice; D016513:Mice, SCID; D008875:Middle Aged; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010641:Phenotype; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D000071250:Snail Family Transcription Factors; D013234:Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology* / Q000378:metabolism; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: C000604407:SNAI1 protein, human; C000604449:Snai2 protein, mouse; D000071250:Snail Family Transcription Factors; D014157:Transcription Factors