LABORATORY RESEARCH Targeting Chk1 in p53-Deficient Triple-Negative Breast Cancer Is Therapeutically Beneficial in Human-in-Mouse Tumor Models Researchers tested whether inhibition of checkpoint kinase 1 (Chk1) could potentiate the cytotoxicity of the DNA damaging agent irinotecan in triple-negative breast cancer using xenotransplant tumor models. [J Clin Invest] Abstract | Press Release Steroid Receptor Coactivator 3 Regulates Autophagy in Breast Cancer Cells through Macrophage Migration Inhibitory Factor Researchers identified macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) as a novel target gene of steroid receptor coactivator 3 and demonstrated its importance in cell survival. Specifically, they showed that MIF is a strong suppressor of autophagic cell death. [Cell Res] Abstract Peroxiredoxin 2 Specifically Regulates the Oxidative and Metabolic Stress Response of Human Metastatic Breast Cancer Cells in Lungs Researchers hypothesized that cancer cells that live under aerobic conditions, as might be the case in lungs, protect themselves against the damage caused by reactive oxygen species. [Oncogene] Abstract Loss of Giant Obscurins Promotes Breast Epithelial Cell Survival through Apoptotic Resistance Scientists studied the expression profile of obscurins in breast, colon, and skin cancer cell lines and their involvement in cell survival. [FASEB J] Abstract | Press Release Insulin-Like Growth Factor 1 Attenuates Antiestrogen- and Antiprogestin-Induced Apoptosis in Estrogen Receptor Positive Breast Cancer Cells by MEK1 Regulation of the BH3-Only Pro-Apoptotic Protein Bim Researchers’ goal was to identify new molecular targets to improve the efficacy of hormonal therapy in breast cancer patients that have a poor response to hormonal therapy, in part, due to high circulating levels of unbound insulin-like growth factor-1. [Breast Cancer Res] Abstract Inhibition of Phosphatidylcholine-Specific Phospholipase C Results in Loss of Mesenchymal Traits in Metastatic Breast Cancer Cells Researchers investigated the effects of D609, a xanthate inhibiting phosphatidylcholine-specific phospholipase C and sphingomyelin synthase, as a candidate regulator of cell differentiation and mesenchymal-epithelial transition in the highly metastatic breast cancer cell line MDA-MB-231. [Breast Cancer Res] Abstract Both Lrp5 and Lrp6 Receptors Are Required to Respond to Physiological Wnt Ligands in Mammary Epithelial Cells (and Fibroblasts) Researchers show that at endogenous levels of lipoprotein like receptor 5 (Lrp5) and Lrp6, both receptors are required to signal in response to some Wnt ligands, both in vitro (in mouse embryonic fibroblasts and mammary epithelial cells) and in vivo (in mammary outgrowths). [J Biol Chem] Abstract Anandamide Inhibits the Wnt/β-Catenin Signaling Pathway in Human Breast Cancer MDA MB 231 Cells As accumulating evidences indicate that the constitutive activation of the canonical Wnt pathway in human breast cancer may highlight a key role for aberrant activation of the β-catenin-T cell factor cascade and tumor progression, researchers studied the anandamide effect on the key elements of Wnt pathway in breast cancer cells. [Eur J Cancer] Abstract CLINICAL RESEARCH FOXP3 Expression in Cancer Cells and Anthracyclines Efficacy in Patients with Primary Breast Cancer Treated with Adjuvant Chemotherapy in the Phase III UNICANCER-PACS 01 Trial Scientists hypothesized that forkhead box protein 3 (FOXP3) expression predicts the response to anthracyclines in breast cancer patients and that adjuvant chemotherapy adding taxanes to anthracyclines confers an overall survival benefit over anthracyclines alone, in patients with FOXP3-negative tumors. [Ann Oncol] Abstract A Randomized Trial of Combination Anastrozole Plus Gefitinib and of Combination Fulvestrant Plus Gefitinib in the Treatment of Postmenopausal Women with Hormone Receptor Positive Metastatic Breast Cancer This trial estimates the antitumor efficacy and toxicity of the EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitor gefitinib in combination with anastrozole or fulvestrant in postmenopausal hormone receptor positive breast cancer. [Breast Cancer Res Treat] Abstract |