Investigating The Expression Of FGFR2 In Breast Cancer Sub-types

Breast cancer is the most common cancer among women worldwide.  It is one of the greatest leading causes of death among women, second only to lung cancer.  Basal-like breast cancer is a very aggressive subtype characterized by lack of expression of estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR) and no over expression of human epidermal growth factor receptor-2 (HER2).  It is also positive for the markers EGFR and cytokeratin 5/6.  There are no targeted treatments available for this type of breast cancer, and survival rates are very low.  This is why research in this field is very important and necessary to pursue.  

This study was aimed toward the gene FGFR2.  This gene leads to sustained angiogenesis and proliferation of cells that could lead to cancer.  We looked to compare between normal and two types of cancer cell lines, TN and ER+.  To achieve this, RT-PCR and qPCR were used to detect expression of transcript on the cells, along with immunostaining to determine localization of FGFR2 on cells.  Results showed higher expression of FGFR2 in basal-like cancer cells than in ER+ cancer cells. There was no expression on normal cells. The localization of FGFR2 in cancer cells was cytoplasmic with nuclear exclusion, presenting ideas as to what functions in the cell may change when affected by cancer.  This obtained knowledge can be beneficial in the identification of possible targeted therapies against breast cancer.