Gene Expression Profiling of Breast Cancer Brain Metastasis
Citations Over TimeTop 10% of 2016 papers
Abstract
The biology of breast cancer brain metastasis (BCBM) is poorly understood. We aimed to explore genes that are implicated in the process of brain metastasis of primary breast cancer (BC). NanoString nCounter Analysis covering 252 target genes was used for comparison of gene expression levels between 20 primary BCs that relapsed to brain and 41 BCBM samples. PAM50-based intrinsic subtypes such as HER2-enriched and basal-like were clearly over-represented in BCBM. A panel of 22 genes was found to be significantly differentially expressed between primary BC and BCBM. Five of these genes, CXCL12, MMP2, MMP11, VCAM1, and MME, which have previously been associated with tumor progression, angiogenesis, and metastasis, clearly discriminated between primary BC and BCBM. Notably, the five genes were significantly upregulated in primary BC compared to BCBM. Conversely, SOX2 and OLIG2 genes were upregulated in BCBM. These genes may participate in metastatic colonization but not in primary tumor development. Among patient-matched paired samples (n = 17), a PAM50 molecular subtype conversion was observed in eight cases (47.1%), with a trend toward unfavorable subtypes in patients with the distinct gene expression. Our findings, although not conclusive, reveal differentially expressed genes that might mediate the brain metastasis process.
Related Papers
- → Revisiting Seed and Soil: Examining the Primary Tumor and Cancer Cell Foraging in Metastasis(2017)89 cited
- → Brain metastases as the only manifestation of an undetected primary tumor(1998)86 cited
- → Analysis of host responses to microbial infection using gene expression profiling(2001)32 cited
- → Development of brain metastasis 5 years before the appearance of the primary lung cancer: “messenger metachronous metastasis”(2003)6 cited
- → Abstract 2450: Optimization of spontaneous metastasis incidence and quantification in human tumor xenograft models using bioluminescence imaging(2012)