Functional and genomic characterization of a xenograft model system for the study of metastasis in triple-negative breast cancer. Functional and genomic characterization of a xenograft model system for the study of metastasis in triple-negative breast cancer

To define the molecular regulators of metastasis of triple-negative breast cancer, we conducted a rigorous characterization of four populations of MDA-MB-231 human triple-negative breast cancer cells that display a range of intrinsic spontaneous metastatic capacities in immuno-deficient mice, from non-metastatic to highly metastatic to lung, liver, spleen and spine. PAT-Seq gene expression profiling of primary tumor cells identified the fibroblast growth factor homologous factor, FGF13, as a candidate metastatic virulence gene highly upregulated in aggressively metastatic MDA-MB-231HM tumors. Overall design: SNP analysis from of 4 increasingly metastatic breast cancer tumour cell lines