Abstract 5168: Understanding the role of integrins in breast cancer

Abstract

Abstract Breast cancer is a highly prevalent disease and the second-leading cancer related death in women. Mortality rates have declined a 38% in recent years thanks to early detection and development of treatments. However, the five year survival rate of patients with a distant metastasis is only 26%. Hence, it is important to identify key players that mediate or promote the migration of cells to other organs. Integrins are cell surface receptors that mediate cell adhesion to the extracellular matrix. They are involved in roles such as cell migration and proliferation. In this project we seek to understand the role of integrin α2 in breast cancer metastasis. It has been previously reported that integrin α2 is a metastasis suppressor of a Her2+ model of breast cancer. However, its role in triple negative breast cancer is unknown. We found the integrin α2 gene (ITGA2) a target of has-miR-206 which controls metastasis and stemness of breast cancer. We hypothesize integrin α2 has a metastasis regulating role in triple negative breast cancer. The triple negative breast cancer cell line, MDA-MB-231 has been used to characterize the role of integrin α2 in migration, cell viability and lung colonization of mice injected though tail vein injection. Lung colonization of breast cancer cells in NSG mice is significantly altered by the knockdown expression of integrin α2. Consistent with the phenotypes in migration and invasion. Taken together, these results suggest integrin α2 regulates breast cancer metastasis through modified cell migration and lung colonization. Citation Format: Valery Adorno-Cruz, Xia Liu, Huiping Liu. Understanding the role of integrins in breast cancer [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2018; 2018 Apr 14-18; Chicago, IL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2018;78(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 5168.