1. MYC-Driven Pathways in Breast Cancer Subtypes
- Author
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Paul Allegakoen, Yassi Fallah, Ayesha N. Shajahan-Haq, and Janetta Brundage
- Subjects
0301 basic medicine ,Programmed cell death ,lcsh:QR1-502 ,Breast Neoplasms ,Review ,Biology ,Biochemistry ,Proto-Oncogene Mas ,lcsh:Microbiology ,Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-myc ,03 medical and health sciences ,0302 clinical medicine ,Breast cancer ,breast cancer ,HER2 ,medicine ,Humans ,Progesterone Receptor Negative ,Gene Regulatory Networks ,Molecular Biology ,Transcription factor ,drug resistance ,Gene Amplification ,Cancer ,medicine.disease ,Phenotype ,3. Good health ,Up-Regulation ,Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic ,030104 developmental biology ,ER ,Drug Resistance, Neoplasm ,030220 oncology & carcinogenesis ,Cancer research ,Female ,Signal transduction ,Neoplasm Grading ,Estrogen receptor alpha ,TNBC - Abstract
The transcription factor MYC (MYC proto-oncogene, bHLH transcription factor) is an essential signaling hub in multiple cellular processes that sustain growth of many types of cancers. MYC regulates expression of RNA, both protein and non-coding, that control central metabolic pathways, cell death, proliferation, differentiation, stress pathways, and mechanisms of drug resistance. Activation of MYC has been widely reported in breast cancer progression. Breast cancer is a complex heterogeneous disease and treatment options are primarily guided by histological and biochemical evaluations of the tumors. Based on biochemical markers, three main breast cancer categories are ER+ (estrogen receptor alpha positive), HER2+ (human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 positive), and TNBC (triple-negative breast cancer; estrogen receptor negative, progesterone receptor negative, HER2 negative). MYC is elevated in TNBC compared with other cancer subtypes. Interestingly, MYC-driven pathways are further elevated in aggressive breast cancer cells and tumors that display drug resistant phenotype. Identification of MYC target genes is essential in isolating signaling pathways that drive tumor development. In this review, we address the role of MYC in the three major breast cancer subtypes and highlight the most promising leads to target MYC functions.
- Published
- 2017