Involvement of RUNX1 in CSC generation and drug resistance in TNBC cell lines

SOFIA MARIA SOSA; NATALIA FERNANDEZ; FACUNDO COUTO; ANA RAIMONDI; NATALIA RUBINSTEIN

Congreso; Metastasis Research Society; 2022

Triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) is associated with epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and an enrichment in cancer stem cell (CSC) population which, according to growing evidence, are both involved in tumor chemoresistance. Our group has shown that RUNX1 is involved in the aggressiveness of this breast cancer subtype by promoting cell migration and regulating tumor gene expression, such as the oncogene RSPO3 and the metastasis marker gene GJA1. ChIP assays done in our lab revealed that RUNX1 can regulate transcription factors involved in EMT. Moreover, RUNX1 protein expression in TNBC correlates with poor patient prognosis. Our aim is to evaluate RUNX1 relevance during drug treatment in human TNBC. Here we show that RUNX1, KLF4 (stemness marker) and GJA1 gene expression are significantly upregulated in doxorubicin (Doxo)- or paclitaxel (Px)-treated TNBC MDA-MB-231 and -468 cell lines (all p values were at least