Identifying cell surface or secreted molecules upregulated in invasive/metastatic breast cancer.

Changes in cell surface receptor expression and the expression of secreted factors play a critical role in the progression of cancer from an in situ to invasive phenotype and in the acquisition of metastatic capability.

The aims of this project are to identify cell surface and secreted molecular which are upregulated in invasive breast cancers compared to normal breast tissue and to determine the role of identified molecular in breast cancer progression.

We have generated and screened a modified signal sequence trap cDNA library of mRNA from isolated from primary invasive breast tumour cells subtracted against normal breast mRNA and identified a number of candidates genes. The overexpression of these genes in invasive tumours has been validated by a variety of independent tests and in collaboration with Dr Jorge Resi-Filho (Breakthrough Breast Cancer Research Centre) and Dr Richard Poulsom (CRUK, London Research Institute) we have established the expression of these genes in a breast tumour tissue microarray. We are currently undertaking functional analysis of a subset of candidate genes.