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Tumorigenesis and neoplastic progression
Discovery of Centrosomal Protein 70 as an Important Player in the Development and Progression of Breast Cancer

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Centrosome abnormalities have been implicated in the development and progression of breast cancer. However, the molecular players involved in the above processes remain largely uncharacterized. Herein, we identify centrosomal protein 70 (Cep70) as an important factor that mediates breast cancer growth and metastasis. Cep70 is up-regulated in breast cancer tissues and cell lines, and its expression is closely correlated with several clinicopathologic variables associated with breast cancer progression. Mechanistic studies reveal that the up-regulation of Cep70 in breast cancer occurs at the mRNA level and is independent of gene amplification. Cep70 promotes breast cancer cell proliferation and colony formation in vitro and increases tumor growth in mice. In addition, Cep70 stimulates breast cancer cell migration and invasion in vitro. Bioluminescence imaging analysis further shows that Cep70 enhances breast cancer lung metastasis in mice. Together, these results demonstrate a critical role for Cep70 in the development and progression of breast cancer and have important implications in the diagnosis and therapy of this malignancy.

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Supported by the National Basic Research Program of China grant 2012CB945002 (J.Z.); the National Natural Science Foundation of China grants 31301113 (X.S.), 31130015 (J.Z.), and 81270295 (X.L.); the Tianjin Natural Science Foundation grant 15JCYBJC49300 (J.Z.); the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province grants BK20130607 (X.S.) and SBK2015020697 (X.L.); Jiangsu Provincial Innovation Fund (X.L.), and the State Key Laboratory of Medicinal Chemical Biology (X.S.). X.S. is an assistant fellow and X.L. is a fellow at the Collaborative Innovation Center for Cardiovascular Disease Translational Medicine of Jiangsu Province, China.

X.S. and D.L. contributed equally to this work.

Disclosures: None declared.