Heightened expression of CTCF in breast cancer cells is associated with resistance to apoptosis.

CTCF is a candidate tumor suppressor gene encoding a multifunctional transcription factor. Surprisingly for a tumor suppressor, the levels of CTCF in breast cancer cell lines and tumors were found elevated compared with breast cell lines with finite life span and normal breast tissues. In this study, we aimed to investigate the possible cause for this increase in CTCF content and in particular to test the hypothesis that up-regulation of CTCF may be linked to resistance of breast cancer cells to apoptosis.