Cororan, Alexis

DeSelm, Matthew

English

University of Northern Colorado

Ursidae: The Undergraduate Research Journal at the Universityof Northern ColoradoVolume 5Number 1 2015 Research Excellence Awards Winnersand FinalistsArticle 3January 2015Overexpression of the BCL11A TranscriptionFactor in Basal-like Versus Luminal Breast CancerCellsAlexis CororanMatthew DeSelmFollow this and additional works at: http://digscholarship.unco.edu/urjPart of the Physical Sciences and Mathematics CommonsThis Article is brought to you for free and open access by Scholarship & Creative Works @ Digital UNC. It has been accepted for inclusion in Ursidae:The Undergraduate Research Journal at the University of Northern Colorado by an authorized editor of Scholarship & Creative Works @ Digital UNC.For more information, please contact Jane.Monson@unco.edu.Recommended CitationCororan, Alexis and DeSelm, Matthew (2015) "Overexpression of the BCL11A Transcription Factor in Basal-like Versus LuminalBreast Cancer Cells," Ursidae: The Undergraduate Research Journal at the University of Northern Colorado: Vol. 5 : No. 1 , Article 3.Available at: http://digscholarship.unco.edu/urj/vol5/iss1/3Cororan & DeSelm  3 Overexpression of the BCL11A Transcription Factor in Basal-like Versus Luminal Breast Cancer Cells Presenters: Alexis Cororan and Matthew DeSelm Faculty Mentor: James Haughian  Abstract: Gene expression profiling identifies discrete subtypes of breast cancers such as luminal, basal-like, and HER2+. Luminal breast cancers respond well to anti-hormonal therapies, and express estrogen (ER) and/or progesterone (PR) receptors. ER, PR, and HER2 are absent in basal-like or triple negative breast cancers, rendering them less responsive to anti-hormonal therapies. Forty percent of luminal breast tumors contain ‘luminobasal’ cells that express the marker cytokeratin 5 (CK5) commonly used to identify basal-like breast cancers. Here we ask- what are these luminobasal cells in luminal tumors? Our models include a pure luminal cell line (E-3) and a pure luminobasal cell line (EWD-8) derived from a parental luminal breast cancer cell line grown in mice. Guided by large microarray datasets comparing women’s primary luminal and basal-like breast cancers, we chose to examine the expression profile of BCL11A between our E-3 and EWD-8 breast cancer cell lines. BCL11A is a transcription factor whose function within breast cancer cells is not fully known; however, microarray profiling indicates that the EWD-8 luminobasal cells express significantly higher levels of BCL11A mRNA relative to luminal cells. Our data confirms this overexpression of BCL11A in the EWD-8 cells, and is associated with the differential expression of accepted luminal and basal-like markers. Future studies will focus on knocking out a specific exon from the BCL11A gene using the Crispr/Cas9 system and assessing the effects in luminobasal cells.  1Cororan and DeSelm: Overexpression of the BCL11A Transcription Factor in Basal-like Versus Luminal Breast Cancer CellsPublished by Scholarship & Creative Works @ Digital UNC, 2015

Overexpression of the BCL11A Transcription Factor in Basal-like Versus Luminal Breast Cancer Cells

https://digscholarship.unco.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1101&amp;context=urj

Overexpression of the BCL11A Transcription Factor in Basal-like Versus Luminal Breast Cancer Cells

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