Detection of Metastatic Potential in Breast Cancer by RhoC-GTPase and WISP3 Proteins

Abstract : Breast cancer is the most common type of life-threatening cancer, and the second most common cause of cancer related deaths of women in the United States. Even though the larger the primary tumor, the greater the likelihood of metastases, this is not always the case. There are many small breast cancers with a highly aggressive and metastatic behavior and discouraging outcome that remain under treated because there is no marker capable of identifying them. In this proposal we will study the utility of detecting RhoC GTPase and WISP3 proteins by immunohistochemistry as biological prognostic markers capable of identifying breast cancers with high propensity to metastasize, independently of tumor size. The impact of this study is that we will develop a clinically useful test to detect which invasive cancers will metastasize, and that will allow clinicians to institute early treatment before the development of metastases. This will impact on patient outcome. We will also study the predictive power of RhoC GTPase and WISP3 expression in the response of breast cancer to farnesyl transferase inhibitors, a new gene-targeted treatment modality for advanced cancers.