Biglycan and reduced glycolysis are associated with breast cancer cell dormancy in the brain.

Exit of quiescent disseminated cancer cells from dormancy is thought to be responsible for metastatic relapse and a better understanding of dormancy could pave the way for novel therapeutic approaches. We used an model of triple negative breast cancer brain metastasis to identify differences in transcriptional profiles between dormant and proliferating cancer cells in the brain. gene, encoding a small proteoglycan biglycan, was strongly upregulated in dormant cancer cells . expression was significantly downregulated in patient brain metastases as compared to the matched primary breast tumors and overexpression in cancer cells inhibited their growth and . Dormant cancer cells were further characterized by a reduced expression of glycolysis genes , and inhibition of glycolysis resulted in a reversible growth arrest reminiscent of dormancy. Our study identified mechanisms that could be targeted to induce/maintain cancer dormancy and thereby prevent metastatic relapse.