Grant: Project Grant

Mammography detection of dense breast tissue is associated with a four-fold increased risk of breast carcinoma and a greater risk for invasive breast cancer. This is due to increased organization and stiffness of the extracellular matrix, primarily collagen, and matrix stiffness is associated with aggressive cancers in other tissue types, such as prostate cancer. Focal adhesions are cell surface adhesion structures responsible for cell attachment to the extracellular matrix that mediate the cancer cell response to matrix stiffness. We have identified a protein, caveolin-1, that regulates focal adhesion tension and that is also associated with breast and prostate cancer malignancy. We will now determine how caveolin-1 controls focal adhesion tension and whether its role as a regulator of focal adhesions mediates the breast cancer cell response to matrix stiffness. These studies will lead to a better understanding of the association of caveolin-1 with malignant breast cancers and may lead to the identification of specific biomarkers for the cancer cell response to matrix stiffness.