Grant: Operating Grant - PA: Regional Partnership Program : Manitoba

In 2011, 23,000 Canadian women will be diagnosed with breast cancer and 5,300 will die from this disease. Increasing our knowledge of the mechanisms controlling the different steps of the disease is a priority to save these women. When breast cancer appears, cells divide abnormally but do not move. At this stage, when the disease remains localized, targeting is easier, treatment options are better and getting rid of the cancer is likely. Unfortunately, breast cancer cells can evolve and acquire the ability to move out of the breast and colonize other tissues, creating multiple disseminated tumors called metastases. Metastases increase the number of targets to be eliminated and reduce the chances to successfully cure the disease. Metastases, which can appear in tissues such as bone, brain and liver, alter the normal functions of these critical organs. They are therefore ultimately responsible for the death of the patients. As such, understanding events controlling the different steps of tumor progression and invasion will provide preventive and therapeutic targets to eradicate breast cancer. The present project deals with an intriguing newly discovered molecular system that consists of an RNA (SRA) and its corresponding protein (SRAP). As opposed to most systems, where either RNA, either protein has a function, both molecules are able to control specific event in cells. Accumulated preliminary data point toward SRA/SRAP controlling breast cancer cells invasion, making the study of this system highly relevant to breast cancer research. Using Molecular Biology, archived cancer tissue and mouse models, this project will decipher the mechanisms behind SRA/SRAP action. It will allow us to propose models highlighting the mechanisms by which the bi-faceted SRA RNA/SRAP system controls breast cancer progression. These models will help elaborate novel strategies aimed to specifically block invasion, slow down the progression or prevent the initiation of this disease.