Identification of enhancers in EMT and breast cancer stem cell formation

Epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), the process whereby cells gain migratory and invasive properties characteristic of mesenchymal cells, plays a central role in embryogenesis and wound healing in a wide range of tissues. However, EMT has also been linked to the formation of cancer stem cells (CSCs). Many of the signaling pathways involved in EMT have also been implicated in CSC formation but the processes that contribute uniquely to CSC formation remain elusive. We have previously demonstrated that PKCθ activation is critical for EMT induction and concomitant CSC formation in the breast cancer luminal epithelial cell line, MCF7. To discover how PKC-induced alterations in the epigenome influence the EMT and CSC formation in MCF-7 cells and MDA-MB-231, we employed a combination of expression profiling and ChIP-sequencing of H3K4me1 and H3K27ac.