title: The secretory small GTPase Rab27B as a marker for breast cancer progression.
abstract: In contemporary oncology practice, an urgent need remains to refine the prognostic assessment of breast cancer. It is still difficult to identify patients with early breast cancer who are likely to benefit from adjuvant chemotherapy. Although invasion of cancer cells is the main prognostic denominator in tumor malignancy, our molecular understanding and diagnosis are often inadequate to cope with this activity. Therefore, deciphering molecular pathways of how tumors invade and metastasize may help in the identification of a useful prognostic marker. We recently discovered that the secretory small GTPase Rab27B, a regulator of vesicle exocytosis, delivers proinvasive signals for increased invasiveness, tumor size, and metastasis of various estrogen receptor (ER)-positive breast cancer cell lines, both in vitro and in vivo. In human breast cancer specimens, the presence of Rab27B protein proved to be associated with a low degree of differentiation and the presence of lymph node metastasis in ER-positive breast cancer.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Oncology, Ghent University Hospital, De Pintelaan 185, 9000 Ghent, Belgium.
authors.forename: An
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hendrix
authors.affiliation: Department of Gynecology, Ghent University Hospital, De Pintelaan 185, 9000 Ghent, Belgium.
authors.forename: Geert
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Braems
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Experimental Cancer Research, Department of Radiation Oncology and Experimental Cancer Research, Ghent University Hospital, De Pintelaan 185, 9000 Ghent, Belgium.
authors.forename: Marc
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bracke
authors.affiliation: Molecular Medicine, National Heart and Lung Institute, Imperial College London, Sir Alexander Fleming Building, Exhibition Road, London SW7 2AZ, UK.|CEDOC, Faculdade de Ciências Médicas, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal.|Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência, Oeiras, Portugal.
authors.forename: Miguel C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Seabra
authors.affiliation: Medical Genetics Branch, National Human Genome Research Institute, 10 Center Drive, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA.
authors.forename: William A
authors.initials: WA
authors.lastname: Gahl
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Experimental Cancer Research, Department of Radiation Oncology and Experimental Cancer Research, Ghent University Hospital, De Pintelaan 185, 9000 Ghent, Belgium.
authors.forename: Olivier
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: De Wever
authors.affiliation: Medical Genetics Branch, National Human Genome Research Institute, 10 Center Drive, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA.
authors.forename: Wendy
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Westbroek
mesh_terms: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*; D018450:Disease Progression; D005260:Female; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; D006801:Humans; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis; D009361:Neoplasm Invasiveness; D011379:Prognosis; D011960:Receptors, Estrogen / Q000378:metabolism; D015398:Signal Transduction; D020691:rab GTP-Binding Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D011960:Receptors, Estrogen; C512960:Rab27B protein, human; D020691:rab GTP-Binding Proteins