Proteomic approaches to investigate signaling in breast cancer
Breast cancer (BC) is a devastating disease, with an estimated 300,000 new cases diagnosed this year in the United States. One in 8 women in the US will develop invasive breast cancer in their lifetime. BC is subdivided into four molecularly defined groups based on hormone receptor expression. Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) accounts for 15-20% of all BC and lacks hormone receptor expression. We and others have identified clinically actionable TNBC subtypes.
Of the approximately 43,000 breast cancer deaths this year, more than 90% are due to metastatic (Stage IV) BC. TNBC represents nearly 50% of patients with metastatic disease, with an overall survival (OS) of 1 – 2 years.
The long-term goal of our research is to improve the survival of high-risk TNBC patients by identifying new treatment strategies. To do so, we have established a proteomic platform to efficiently quantify protein abundances in patient tumors and identify TNBC subtypes and actionable pathways for anti-cancer treatment.
