Despite its importance in normal and cancer cell cycles, scientists have lacked a complete understanding of the mechanisms that regulate FOXM1. One of these transcription factors is called FOXM1, which has been found in significant quantities in basal-like breast cancer (BLBC). This transcription is crucial for the proper completion of the cell cycle and cell proliferation, including for cancer cells. In cancer cells, proteins called transcription factors control the rate at which genetic information is copied from DNA to messenger RNA inside cells. “We also think targeting USP21 could sensitize cancer cells to therapies already in clinical use to treat patients with this disease.”

“We think USP21 could not only drive basal-like breast cancer in patients, but could represent a new, future target for therapeutic intervention,” said UNC Lineberger’s Michael Emanuele, PhD, associate professor of pharmacology and the paper’s senior author. The discovery, published in Cell Reports, offers researchers a much-needed target for new therapies to battle aggressive subtypes of breast cancer. In lab experiments, the researchers found that an enzyme called USP21 promoted proliferation of basal-like breast cancer and is upregulated in a significant percentage of patient tumors.

Now scientists at the University of North Carolina Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center and UNC School of Medicine have uncovered a possible reason why these cancers are so aggressive. Patients are in dire need of improved therapies that attack the underlying cellular features of these types of breast cancer. Michael Emanuele, PhD, associate professor of pharmacology and UNC Lineberger member.īasal-like breast cancer is the most aggressive and difficult-to-treat subtype of breast cancer, and it largely overlaps with the triple-negative classification of the disease.

Enzymes lab report assistant