Grant: Doctoral Award - Frederick Banting and Charles Best Canada Graduate Scholarships

RATIONALE: Breast cancer is the second cause of cancer-related deaths in women, leading to worldwide mortality rates in excess of 350,000 each year. It remains of critical importance to further understand the specific cellular and genetic mechanisms that lead to cancer occurring and progressing. This is necessary for developing additional approaches to specifically target this disease and insure an optimal treatment for all patients. Strong expression of the Steroid Receptor RNA activator protein (SRAP), newly discovered in our laboratory is associated with a poor outcome in specific patients. We suspect this molecule to participate in the mechanisms behind the progression of the disease. We herein propose to investigate its exact function in order to identify strategies to block this negative action. BACKGROUND: Proteins called estrogen receptors (ESRs) play a central role during breast occurring and cancer progression. When activated by hormone such as estrogen, ESRs control the quantity of many molecules that is the products of specific target genes. SRAP was originally identified to enhance this effect. The recent observation that SRAP expression are up-regulated in tumors samples compared to normal mammary gland highlights the relevance of investigating SRAP function in breast cancer. We have also shown that different SRAP forms are detected in breast tissue. However, the exact origin of these SRAP forms remains currently unknown. RESEARCH GOAL: The goal is to identify SRAP and its different forms taking place in breast tissues and establish whether their occurrence is associated with particular tumor phenotypes and patient survival. IMPACT: The proposed research program identifies protein and its different forms that might have a direct relevance in the treatment of breast cancer. Understanding this protein will help identify new targets to design preventive or therapeutic approaches to fight breast cancer.