Publications by authors named "Elspeth Ward"

Steroid regulated cancer cells use nuclear receptors and associated regulatory proteins to orchestrate transcriptional networks to drive disease progression. In primary breast cancer, the coactivator AIB1 promotes estrogen receptor (ER) transcriptional activity to enhance cell proliferation. The function of the coactivator in ER metastasis however is not established.

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Approximately 70% of breast cancers express estrogen receptor α (ERα) and depend on this key transcriptional regulator for proliferation and differentiation. While patients with this disease can be treated with targeted antiendocrine agents, drug resistance remains a significant issue, with almost half of patients ultimately relapsing. Elucidating the mechanisms that control ERα function may further our understanding of breast carcinogenesis and reveal new therapeutic opportunities.

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Background: Breast cancer brain metastases (BrMs) are defined by complex adaptations to both adjuvant treatment regimens and the brain microenvironment. Consequences of these alterations remain poorly understood, as does their potential for clinical targeting. We utilized genome-wide molecular profiling to identify therapeutic targets acquired in metastatic disease.

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Despite the clinical utility of endocrine therapies for estrogen receptor-positive (ER) breast cancer, up to 40% of patients eventually develop resistance, leading to disease progression. The molecular determinants that drive this adaptation to treatment remain poorly understood. Methylome aberrations drive cancer growth yet the functional role and mechanism of these epimutations in drug resistance are poorly elucidated.

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Steroid receptor coactivator 1 (SRC-1) interacts with nuclear receptors and other transcription factors (TFs) to initiate transcriptional networks and regulate downstream genes which enable the cancer cell to evade therapy and metastasise. Here we took a top-down discovery approach to map out the SRC-1 transcriptional network in endocrine resistant breast cancer. First, rapid immunoprecipitation mass spectrometry of endogenous proteins (RIME) was employed to uncover new SRC-1 TF partners.

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