A new study published in Cell Reports found that a transcription factor called Slug serves as ‘command central’ for determining breast stem cell health, regulating both stem cell activity and repair of DNA damage.
A new study published in Cell Reports found that a transcription factor called Slug serves as ‘command central’ for determining breast stem cell health, regulating both stem cell activity and repair of DNA damage. The research team also discovered that Slug likely functions as a safeguard against age-related decline of breast stem cell function.
Transcription factors are proteins that bind to DNA sequences and play a role in cancer. The research team previously reported that Slug plays a central role in some types of breast cancers. Building on their prior work, the researchers used breast cells from both humans and mice to explore how Slug might be helpful in maintaining cell fitness.
“These findings help us understand how Slug functions in normal breast tissue and how it may function in breast cancer,” said breast cancer researcher Charlotte Kuperwasser at Tufts University School of Medicine. “Slug is overexpressed in a subtype of breast cancer called basal-like breast cancer. If Slug is also critical for DNA damage repair mechanisms in basal-like breast cancers, it might increase the attractiveness of Slug as a therapeutic target.”
Read more at Tufts University
Image: Cultured human breast cells (blue), with sites of DNA damage (green). Credit: Kuperwasser Lab/Tufts University School of Medicine (Image courtesy of Cell Reports).
