Evaluation of the epithelial mesenchimal transition and the role of transcriptional coactivator PGC-1± in breast carcinomas: study involving circulating tumor cells (CTCs)

Abstract

Breast cancer is the second most frequent cancer and the most common in women. Although early-stage diagnosis, depending on treatment conduction, distant metastases within 5 years may occure. In such cases, therapeutic intervention cannot be considered curative. Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) that migrate from the primary tumor into the blood play an important role in the generation of metastatic foci. However, the mechanisms that contribute to resistance and adaptation of CTCs to new environments have not been elucidated yet. Thus, this study aims to characterize CTCs from human breast carcinomas by analyzing the expression of markers of epithelial-mesenchymal transition process and the transcriptional coactivator PGC-1±, considered an important metabolic regulator in cancer cells. A comparative analysis will be performed involving the expression of target genes of tumor progression, anatomical and pathological variables, clinical evolution of patients and survival time, for the elucidation of metastatic process and development of anticancer therapy with focus on CTCs.