Targeting the MAPK signalling pathway for breast cancer therapy

Breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in the world, with a prevalence that is only increasing. Therefore, it is urgent to find novel therapies for its treatment. The MAPK (mitogen activated protein kinase) signalling pathway is one of the most well-studied pathways in cancer biology, w...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autor: Xena Bosch, Carla
Tipo de recurso: tesis de maestría
Fecha de publicación:2022
País:España
Institución:Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC)
Repositorio:O2, repositorio institucional de la UOC
OAI Identifier:oai:openaccess.uoc.edu:10609/146895
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/10609/146895
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:breast cancer
MAPK pathway
RNA-Seq data
R pipeline
bioconductor
cáncer de mama
vía MAPK
datos RNA-Seq
pipeline R
càncer de mama
via MAPK
dades RNA-Seq
Breast--Cancer -- TFM
Mama--Càncer -- TFM
Mama--Cáncer -- TFM
Descripción
Sumario:Breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in the world, with a prevalence that is only increasing. Therefore, it is urgent to find novel therapies for its treatment. The MAPK (mitogen activated protein kinase) signalling pathway is one of the most well-studied pathways in cancer biology, with its hyper-activation accounting for more than 40% of all cancer cases in humans. In this work, after a bibliographical research of breast cancer, the MAPK signalling pathway, its implication with carcinogenesis and current therapies; an R pipeline for RNA-Seq data analysis of TNBC (Triple Negative Breast cancer) samples treated or not with an MAPK signalling pathway inhibitor (Trametinib) is performed. Differentially expressed genes identified in the basal-like subtype include CALCB, CCL28, IVL, KRT6A, ADD2, HSD17B4 and PSCA, among others. In the mesenchymal subtype, FAM83A, GPX3, KRT13, KRT6A and TACSTD2 were found. The only gene significantly differentially expressed in both subtypes was KRT6A. The genes found in the two basal-like cell lines were linked to similar processes: nuclear division, chromosome segregation, sister chromatid segregation and mitotic sister chromatid segregation. In the mesenchymal subtype, the most enriched categories found were blood vessel development, blood vessel morphogenesis, tissue morphogenesis and angiogenesis. These findings may imply that treating TNBC with an MAPK inhibitor may affect the cancer cells’ proliferation rate, notably in the basal-like subtype. Therefore, it is concluded that inhibiting the MAPK signalling pathway is a promising technique for treating breast cancer, so further investigation is needed.