Pan-cancer genomic profiling identifies novel breast cancer targets among long non-coding RNA

Breast cancer is the most common cancer affecting Canadian women. Advancements in detection and treatments have helped many women diagnosed with breast cancer overcome the disease. Unfortunately, some still succumb to the illness because their cancer is resistant to treatment and has spread to other parts of the body. These patients require new, effective treatments to improve their survival. The development of such therapies will require increased knowledge of how breast cancers grow and spread at the molecular level. A class of molecules called long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are emerging as important regulators of breast cancer growth, spread, and drug resistance. My objective is to expand the knowledge of how lncRNAs regulate cancer-promoting processes and determine which have the most potential as novel breast cancer therapies. For this purpose, I screened thousands of lncRNAs to identify those critically important for breast cancer. So far, I have prioritized 259 lncRNAs that are associated with worse patient survival in breast cancer and may be good targets for future therapies. In addition, my work identified two lncRNAs, named PART1 and NRAD1, that are new important regulators of cellular processes required for breast cancer growth. My findings on PART1 have already been published (Cruickshank* Wasson* et al. 2021 Cancers,*=co-first authors). My efforts are now focused on determining how NRAD1 is contributing to breast cancer cell growth and spread. Understanding the molecular roles of lncRNAs in breast cancer will inform ways through which we can therapeutically inhibit their function and slow or stop the spread of cancer. This research will provide new information and fundamental insights into how lncRNAs promote breast cancer growth and spread. My findings will have a meaningful impact on our understanding of cancer and identify novel drug targets to develop more effective treatments and will ultimately lead to improved survival outcomes for patients.