Project 2 proposal based on following paper: Al-Hajj, M., M. S. Wicha, A. Benito-Hernandez, S. J. Morrison, and M. F. Clarke.
"Prospective Identification of Tumorigenic Breast Cancer Cells." Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 100 (2003): 3983-3988. Courtesy
of Sharon Lawrence. Used with permission.
Courtesy of Sharon Lawrence. Used with permission.
Sharon Lawrence
7.342 – Cancer Biology
Project 2 Topic
November 9, 2004
Paper Choice: Prospective identification of tumorigenic breast cancer cells
Description:
In this paper, the authors studied mouse models of breast cancer, and
came to the conclusion that a subset of cells, distinguished by certain cell
markers, initiate tumorigenesis and produce both tumorigenic and nontumorigenic cells in breast cancer. They produced these models by either
implanting human breast tumor samples or injecting human breast tumor cells
into the mammary pads of mice.
I think the next step is to determine if their data is supported by
autochthonous breast tumors in mice. I propose developing murine mouse
models of breast cancer that express the same cell surface markers. These
models would allow me to assess the differences and similarities between
autochthonous and non-autochthonous models, and to possibly determine if a
subset of tumorigenic cells is always found in breast cancers.