The overall goal of this project is to elucidate the impact of the transcription factor ELK3 in the metastasis of triple negative breast cancer, in an attempt to nominate this molecule as a molecular target for future therapeutic strategies in breast cancer.
Specific objective 1. Generation of genetically modified triple negative breast cancer cell lines with stable overexpression (ELK3-OE) or stable inhibition (ELK3-KD) of the ELK3 transcription factor, by lentiviral transduction.
Specific objective 2. Evaluation of the cellular effects determined by the overexpression and inhibition of the transcription factor ELK3 in triple negative breast cancer cells, in terms of the cells’ migration capacity in 3D microfluidic devices, their phenotype on the epithelial-mesenchymal continuum by flow cytometry and their stemness potential in mammosphere formation assays
Specific objective 3. Identification of the molecular signaling pathways modulated by the transcription factor ELK3 that could be involved in the metastatic process of triple negative breast cancer, by using microarray technology and RT-qPCR.
