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Protein Linked to Therapy Resistance in Breast Cancer

By Guest PostSeptember 17, 2012Health, Science3d, assay, berkeley lab, breast cancer, cancer drug, cancer therapy, egfr tkis, fam83a, family, gene, malignant phenotype, marc lenburg, mina bissell, molecular alteration, oncogenes, paraic kenny, phenotypic reversion, phosphorylation, protein, ren xu, roland meier, saori furuta, sun young lee, tumors

Berkeley Lab Researchers Identify Possible New Oncogene and Future Therapy Target

A gene that may possibly belong to an entire new family of oncogenes has been linked by researchers with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) with breast cancer resistance to a well-regarded and widely used cancer therapy.

One of the world’s leading breast cancer researchers, Mina Bissell, Distinguished Scientist with Berkeley Lab’s Life Sciences Division, led a study in which a protein known as FAM83A was linked to resistance to the cancer drugs known as EGFR-TKIs (Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor-Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitors). Not only may this discovery explain the clinical correlation between a high expression of FAM83A and a poor prognosis for breast cancer patients, it may also provide a new target for future therapies. (more…)

New Findings in Breast Cancer

By Guest PostApril 20, 2012Health, Sciencebasal like cell, berkeley lab, breast cancer, breast tumor, gcnt1, glycans, glycoprotein gene, invasive tumor, jiyoung kim, lobules, luminal cells, malignant, milk ducts, milk mucin, mina bissell, mm, mm glycan, new findings, ole william petersen, petersen bissell collaboration, protein cd271, rene villadsen, stem cell, sugar molecule, tumorigenic, university of copenhagen

Results from Berkeley Lab and University of Copenhagen Collaboration Contradict Current Views on Cancer Stem Cells

New findings in breast cancer research by an international team of scientists contradict the prevailing belief that only basal-like cells with stem cell qualities can form invasive tumors. Research led by Ole William Petersen at the University of Copenhagen (CU) and Mina Bissell of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and has shown that luminal-like cells with no detectable stem cell qualities can generate larger tumors than their basal-like counterparts. This may hold important implications for the diagnosis and the treatment of breast cancer as well as future personalized cancer medicine.

“It is fashionable to think of breast cancer as a disease that can be treated if cancer stem cells are killed off, but we are reporting a sub-population of cancer cells that have no obvious stem cell properties and yet can be tumorigenic and highly aggressive,” Bissell says. “The existence of these additional sub-populations of tumorigenic cells tells us that the entire tumor needs to be eradicated, not just one sub-population of basal-like cells.” (more…)

Berkeley Lab Researchers Discover a Rotational Motion of Cells that Plays a Critical Role in Their Normal Development

By Guest PostJanuary 29, 2012Science3d gel, acini, actomyosin, alexandre bruni cardoso, berkeley lab, breast cancer, breast feeding, camo, cell biology, cellular motion, coherent angular motion, component, counterclockwise, cytoskeleton, ecm, embryogenesis, evolutionary phenomena, extracellular matrix, function, hidetoshi mori, human epithelial cell, kandice tanner, laminin, mammary cell, mammary gland, microenvironment, mina bissell, multicellular organism, phenotypic reversion, protein, rana mroue, rotation, spherical structure, tissue polarity

In a study that holds major implications for breast cancer research as well as basic cell biology, scientists with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have discovered a rotational motion that plays a critical role in the ability of breast cells to form the spherical structures in the mammary gland known as acini. This rotation, which the researchers call “CAMo,” for coherent angular motion, is necessary for the cells to form spheres. Without CAMo, the cells do not form spheres, which can lead to random motion, loss of structure and malignancy.

”What is most exciting to me about this stunning discovery is that it may finally give us a handle by which to discover the physical laws of cellular motion as they apply to biology,” says Mina Bissell, a leading authority on breast cancer and Distinguished Scientist with Berkeley Lab’s Life Sciences Division. (more…)

New Take on Impacts of Low Dose Radiation

By Guest PostDecember 24, 2011Health, Scienceatomic bomb blasts, berkeley lab, biological damage, breast cell line, broken dna, cancer risks, christopher pham, dna damage response, dna repair mechanisms, Environment, epidemiological data, extrapolation, gy of radiation, human breast cells, human tissue, ionizing radiation, Japan, joel swenson, lawrence berkeley national laboratory, levels of ionizing radiation, linear no threshold hypothesis, lnt, low dose radiation, mammogram, mathematical modeling, mcf10a, mina bissell, primary breast epithelial cells, radiation induced foci, rafael gomez sjoberg, repair, rif, standard model, survivors, sylvain costes, teresa neumaier, time lapse imaging, world war II, xray microbeam

*Berkeley Lab Researchers Find Evidence Suggesting Risk May Not Be Proportional to Dose at Low Dose Levels*

Researchers with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab), through a combination of time-lapse live imaging and mathematical modeling of a special line of human breast cells, have found evidence to suggest that for low dose levels of ionizing radiation, cancer risks may not be directly proportional to dose. This contradicts the standard model for predicting biological damage from ionizing radiation – the linear-no-threshold hypothesis or LNT – which holds that risk is directly proportional to dose at all levels of irradiation.

“Our data show that at lower doses of ionizing radiation, DNA repair mechanisms work much better than at higher doses,” says Mina Bissell, a world-renowned breast cancer researcher with Berkeley Lab’s Life Sciences Division. “This non-linear DNA damage response casts doubt on the general assumption that any amount of ionizing radiation is harmful and additive.” (more…)

Berkeley Lab Scientists Find That Normal Breast Cells Help Kill Cancer Cells

By Guest PostApril 20, 20111 commentHealth, Scienceberkeley lab, breast cancer cells, cytostatic, cytotoxic, dna mutations, extracellular matrix culture, healthy cells, human body, il25, immune system, inflammation, interleukin 25, malignant phenotype, mammary epithelial cells, microenvironmental factors, mina bissell, natural defense mechanism against cancer, pathogens, protein, saori furuta, treatment of breast cancer, tumor cells, tumor surveillance system

It is well known that the human body has a highly developed immune system to detect and destroy invading pathogens and tumor cells. Now, researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have shown that the body has a second line of defense against cancer – healthy cells. A new study shows that normal mammary epithelial cells, as they are developing, secrete interleukin 25, a protein known for its role in the immune system’s response to inflammation, for the express purpose of killing nearby breast cancer cells.

“We found that normal breast cells provide an innate defense mechanism against cancer by producing interleukin 25 (IL25) to actively and specifically kill breast cancer cells,” says breast cancer authority Mina Bissell, of Berkeley Lab’s Life Sciences Division, who led this research. “This suggests that IL25 receptor signaling may provide a new therapeutic target for the treatment of breast cancer.” (more…)

Berkeley Lab Researchers Illuminate Laminin’s Role in Cancer Formation

By Guest PostMarch 8, 2011Sciencebreast, breast cancer, cancer death, cell, cytoplasmic protein, dna synthesis, dynamic reciprocity theory, epithelial cell quiescence, epithelial tissue, genetic information, laminin, laminin 111, matrix metalloproteinase 9, microenvironment of breast, mina bissell, mmp9, nucleus, protein, quiescence, stages of tumor development, transcription, united states, zinc dependent enzyme

Laminin, long thought to be only a structural support protein in the microenvironment of breast and other epithelial tissue, is “famous” for its cross-like shape. However, laminin is far more than just a support player with a “pretty face.” Two studies led by one of the world’s foremost breast cancer scientists have shown how laminin plays a central role in the development of breast cancer, the second most leading cause of cancer death among women in the United States. In one study it was shown how laminin influences the genetic information inside a cell’s nucleus. In the other study it was shown how destruction of laminin can play a detrimental role in the early stages of tumor development. (more…)

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