Functional and genomic characterization of a xenograft model system for the study of metastasis in triple-negative breast cancer.

To define the molecular regulators of metastasis of triple-negative breast cancer, we conducted a rigorous characterization of four isogenic populations of MDA-MB-231 human triple-negative breast cancer cells that display a range of intrinsic spontaneous metastatic capacities in immuno-deficient mice, from non-metastatic to highly metastatic to lung, liver, spleen and spine. PAT-Seq gene expression profiling of primary tumor cells identified the fibroblast growth factor homologous factor, FGF13, as a candidate metastatic virulence gene highly upregulated in aggressively metastatic MDA-MB-231HM tumors. Overall design: Gene expression analysis from PAT-Seq of 4 increasingly metastatic breast cancer xenograft tumours

20

Johnstone CN, Pattison AD, Gorringe KL, Harrison PF, Powell DR, Lock P, Baloyan D, Ernst M, Stewart AG, Beilharz TH, Anderson RL