Date of Award
5-1-2019
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy
Department
Molecular Biology, Microbiology and Biochemistry
First Advisor
Cao, Deliang
Abstract
Breast cancer is the most common type of cancer diagnosed among women in the United States, and the second cause of female cancer-related death, with approximately 40,000 deaths annually. Aldo-keto reductase 1B10 (AKR1B10) is a 35-kDa protein that is highly expressed in breast cancer in infiltrative and Ductal Carcinoma in Situ (DCIS) stages. Recent studies have demonstrated that AKR1B10 promotes breast cancer cell adhesion and invasion through the expression of integrin α5 and δ-catenin. Human epidermal growth factor receptor2 (HER2) is a tyrosine kinase receptor which is over expressed in over 60% of DCIS and in 15%-20% of infiltrative breast cancer, indicating decrease of HER2 positive tumors in the progression of DCIS to infiltrative cancer. The pathological overexpression of both AKR1B10 and HER2 in DCIS, combined with our knowledge about AKR1B10, leads us to hypothesized that AKR1B10 may promote HER2+ cell survival and proliferation through preventing anoikis.
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