title: Dissecting the Origin of Breast Cancer Subtype Stem Cell and the Potential Mechanism of Malignant Transformation.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Breast cancer is the most common incident form of cancer in women including different subtypes. Cancer stem cells (CSCs) have been confirmed to exist in breast cancer. But the research on the origin of breast cancer subtype stem cells (BCSSCs) is still inadequate.
  
  
  METHODS
  We identified the putative origin cells of BCSSCs through comparing gene signatures between BCSSCs and normal mammary cells from multiple perspectives: common signature, expression consistency, functional similarity and shortest path length. First, the potential origin cells were ranked according to these measures separately. Then Q statistic was employed to combine all rank lists into a unique list for each subtype, to prioritize the origin cells for each BCSSC. Next, we identified origin-related gene modules through integrating functional interaction network with differentially expressed genes. Finally, transcription factors of significant gene modules were predicted by MatchTM.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The results showed that Luminal A CSC was most relevant to luminal progenitor cell or mature luminal cell; luminal B and HER2 CSC were most relevant to bipotent-enriched progenitor cell; basal-like CSC was most relevant to bipotent-enriched progenitor cell or mature luminal cell. Network modules analysis revealed genes related to mitochondrial respiratory chain (MRC) were significantly dysregulated during the origin of luminal B CSC. In addition, SOX10 emerged as a key regulator of MRC.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our study supports substantive evidence for the possible origin of four kinds of BCSSCs. Dysfunction of MRC may contribute to the origin of luminal B CSC. These findings may have important implications to treat and prevent breast cancer.
authors: College of Bioinformatics Science and Technology, Harbin Medical University, Harbin, China.
authors: Xinyi
authors: X
authors: Liu
authors: College of Bioinformatics Science and Technology, Harbin Medical University, Harbin, China.|Department of Stomatology, Harbin Children's Hospital, Harbin, China.
authors: Dongfei
authors: D
authors: Feng
authors: College of Bioinformatics Science and Technology, Harbin Medical University, Harbin, China.
authors: Dianming
authors: D
authors: Liu
authors: College of Bioinformatics Science and Technology, Harbin Medical University, Harbin, China.
authors: Shuyuan
authors: S
authors: Wang
authors: College of Bioinformatics Science and Technology, Harbin Medical University, Harbin, China.
authors: Xuexin
authors: X
authors: Yu
authors: College of Bioinformatics Science and Technology, Harbin Medical University, Harbin, China.
authors: Enyu
authors: E
authors: Dai
authors: College of Bioinformatics Science and Technology, Harbin Medical University, Harbin, China.
authors: Jing
authors: J
authors: Wang
authors: Institute of Cancer Prevention and Treatment, Harbin Medical University, Harbin, China.
authors: Lihong
authors: L
authors: Wang
authors: College of Bioinformatics Science and Technology, Harbin Medical University, Harbin, China.
authors: Wei
authors: W
authors: Jiang
mesh_terms: D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics / Q000473:pathology*; D002471:Cell Transformation, Neoplastic; D005260:Female; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D006801:Humans; D014411:Neoplastic Stem Cells / Q000473:pathology*; D014158:Transcription, Genetic