Publications by authors named "Jessica L Robinson"

Breast and prostate cancer research to date has largely been predicated on the use of cell lines in vitro or in vivo. These limitations have led to the development of more clinically relevant models, such as organoids or murine xenografts that utilize patient-derived material; however, issues related to low take rate, long duration of establishment, and the associated costs constrain use of these models. This study demonstrates that ex vivo culture of freshly resected breast and prostate tumor specimens obtained from surgery, termed patient-derived explants (PDEs), provides a high-throughput and cost-effective model that retains the native tissue architecture, microenvironment, cell viability, and key oncogenic drivers.

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Objective: High GATA2 expression has been associated with an increased risk of poor clinical outcomes after radical prostatectomy; however, this has not been studied in relation to risk of biochemical recurrence (BCR) after salvage radiation therapy (SRT) for recurrent prostate cancer after radical prostatectomy. Our aim was to evaluate the association between protein expression levels of GATA2 in primary prostate cancer tumour samples and the risk of BCR after SRT.

Methods: 109 males who were treated with SRT were included.

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Glucuronidation is an enzymatic process that terminally inactivates steroid hormones, including estrogens and androgens, thereby influencing carcinogenesis in hormone-dependent cancers. While estrogens drive breast carcinogenesis via the estrogen receptor alpha (ERα), androgens play a critical role as prohormones for estrogen biosynthesis and ligands for the androgen receptor (AR). In this study, the expression and regulation of two androgen-inactivating enzymes, the UDP-glucuronosyltransferases UGT2B15 and UGT2B17, was assessed in breast cancer.

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Background: Standardly collected clinical and pathological patient information has demonstrated only moderate ability to predict risk of biochemical recurrence (BCR) of prostate cancer in men undergoing salvage radiation therapy (SRT) for a rising PSA after radical prostatectomy (RP). Although elevated FOXA1 staining has been associated with poor patient outcomes following RP, it has not been studied in the specific setting of SRT after RP. The aim of this study was to evaluate the association between FOXA1 staining level and BCR after SRT for recurrent prostate cancer.

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Progesterone receptor (PR) expression is used as a biomarker of oestrogen receptor-α (ERα) function and breast cancer prognosis. Here we show that PR is not merely an ERα-induced gene target, but is also an ERα-associated protein that modulates its behaviour. In the presence of agonist ligands, PR associates with ERα to direct ERα chromatin binding events within breast cancer cells, resulting in a unique gene expression programme that is associated with good clinical outcome.

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The forkhead protein, FOXA1, is a critical interacting partner of the nuclear hormone receptors, oestrogen receptor-α (ER) and androgen receptor (AR), which are major drivers of the two most common cancers, namely breast and prostate cancer. Over the past few years, progress has been made in our understanding of how FOXA1 influences nuclear receptor function, with both common and distinct roles in the regulation of ER or AR. Recently, another level of regulation has been described, with the discovery that FOXA1 is mutated in 1.

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Estrogen receptor-α (ER) is the driving transcription factor in most breast cancers, and its associated proteins can influence drug response, but direct methods for identifying interacting proteins have been limited. We purified endogenous ER using an approach termed RIME (rapid immunoprecipitation mass spectrometry of endogenous proteins) and discovered the interactome under agonist- and antagonist-liganded conditions in breast cancer cells, revealing transcriptional networks in breast cancer. The most estrogen-enriched ER interactor is GREB1, a potential clinical biomarker with no known function.

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Hormonally regulated breast and prostate cancers are the most common cause of cancer in females and males respectively. FoxA1 acts as a pioneer factor for both androgen receptor (AR) and estrogen receptor-α (ER), dictating the binding location, and therefore function of these transcription factors. It is an essential protein for the transcriptional activity of both ER and AR, yet it has distinct roles with the two different nuclear receptors.

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Breast cancer is a heterogeneous disease and several distinct subtypes exist based on differential gene expression patterns. Molecular apocrine tumours were recently identified as an additional subgroup, characterised as oestrogen receptor negative and androgen receptor positive (ER- AR+), but with an expression profile resembling ER+ luminal breast cancer. One possible explanation for the apparent incongruity is that ER gene expression programmes could be recapitulated by AR.

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The amyloid precursor protein (APP) is a ubiquitously expressed transmembrane adhesion protein and the progenitor of amyloid-beta peptides. The major splice isoforms of APP expressed by most tissues contain a Kunitz protease inhibitor domain; secreted APP containing this domain is also known as protease nexin 2 and potently inhibits serine proteases, including trypsin and coagulation factors. The atypical human trypsin isoform mesotrypsin is resistant to inhibition by most protein protease inhibitors and cleaves some inhibitors at a substantially accelerated rate.

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