Abstract 2275: Transcription factor landscape cataloguing highlights key insights in inflammatory breast cancer (IBC)

Abstract

Abstract Transcription factors are proteins that bind to DNA in a sequence-specific manner to regulate gene expression for normal cellular functions. Cancers have been shown to have aberrant transcriptional regulation. Therefore, identifying transcription factor landscapes will aid in characterizing complex diseases. As an example, breast cancer has many subtypes that are phenotypically and molecularly distinct. Inflammatory Breast Cancer (IBC) is rare, and the most aggressive form of breast cancer currently known. It is a poorly characterized subtype, and diagnosis often results in poor prognosis for patients. As such, we decided to explore the transcription factor landscape in IBC. This was accomplished employing the following strategy: 1) We assembled de novo transcriptomes for SUM149, an IBC cancer line and MCF7, a non-IBC cancer line using Trinity; 2) We translated the assembled transcriptomes using getORF from EMBOSS; 3) We identified putative transcription factors in the translated transcriptomes using CREPE. We then identified differentially expressed genes between SUM-149 and MCF-7 using DEseq2. Our results highlight differences in the transcription factor catalogues between IBC and non-IBC cancers. Of interest in SUM-149 is the gene BNC1, a member of the C2H2 zinc finger family of transcription factors. Dysregulation of this gene is associated with brain metastasis in breast cancers which is a common phenotype in IBC. BNC1-associated genes are linked to GO terms such as, epithelial cell differentiation, and regulation of alternative mRNA splicing, via spliceosome; however, BNC1 functions in IBC are yet to be determined. This analysis will bridge the gap in knowledge of key transcriptional regulators in IBC. Citation Format: Diego A. Rosado-Tristani, Carlos S. Morales, Esther A. Peterson, Jose A. Rodríguez-Martínez. Transcription factor landscape cataloguing highlights key insights in inflammatory breast cancer (IBC) [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2022; 2022 Apr 8-13. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2022;82(12_Suppl):Abstract nr 2275.