Cellular and Clinical Characterisaiton of Solitary, Primary Breast Cancer Cell

Abstract

Breast cancer (BrCa) is the most common cancer in Australian women and recurrence poses a constant threat. Relapse is thought to involve cell proliferation, dormancy and migration but the cell biology of recurrence is not fully understood. BrCa tend to contain increased amount of collagen in desmoplasia in breast tissue. In addition, high mammographically dense (HMD) tissue not only is the critical risk factor in BrCa development and cancer recurrence rates but it also strongly influences how tumour cells behave and are regulated. Solitary primary tumour cell (SPCs): a subset of primary tumour cells was shown to express dormancy and migratory genes in BrCa stroma. The results of thesis suggest the need to consider targeting SPCs in an alternative way to the conventional radiotherapy and chemotherapy. Here, in this thesis I show that (i) SPC levels are strongly correlated with BrCa LR; (ii) and SPCs are migratory in dense matrix and capable of continuously remodeling the surrounded microenvironment to promote migration, which may lead to the spread of cancer. The targeting of mechanisms regulating migration in SPCs might be an option in cancer/cancer LR therapies for us to prevention cell migration, therefore, avoiding the spread of cancer cells.