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Beca, Francisco

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Beca

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Francisco

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Beca, Francisco
Author's Publications: search.filters.isAuthorOfPublication.c062cc6c-a142-45c9-8f7e-e08622a9ff27

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    LINC00520 is induced by Src, STAT3, and PI3K and plays a functional role in breast cancer
    (Impact Journals LLC, 2016) Henry, Whitney S.; Hendrickson, David G.; Beca, Francisco; Glass, Benjamin; Lindahl-Allen, Marianne; He, Lizhi; Ji, Zhe; Struhl, Kevin; Beck, Andrew; Rinn, John; Toker, Alex
    Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) have been implicated in normal cellular homeostasis as well as pathophysiological conditions, including cancer. Here we performed global gene expression profiling of mammary epithelial cells transformed by oncogenic v-Src, and identified a large subset of uncharacterized lncRNAs potentially involved in breast cancer development. Specifically, our analysis revealed a novel lncRNA, LINC00520 that is upregulated upon ectopic expression of oncogenic v-Src, in a manner that is dependent on the transcription factor STAT3. Similarly, LINC00520 is also increased in mammary epithelial cells transformed by oncogenic PI3K and its expression is decreased upon knockdown of mutant PIK3CA. Additional expression profiling highlight that LINC00520 is elevated in a subset of human breast carcinomas, with preferential enrichment in the basal-like molecular subtype. ShRNA-mediated depletion of LINC00520 results in decreased cell migration and loss of invasive structures in 3D. RNA sequencing analysis uncovers several genes that are differentially expressed upon ectopic expression of LINC00520, a significant subset of which are also induced in v-Src-transformed MCF10A cells. Together, these findings characterize LINC00520 as a lncRNA that is regulated by oncogenic Src, PIK3CA and STAT3, and which may contribute to the molecular etiology of breast cancer.
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    EZH2 protein expression in normal breast epithelium and risk of breast cancer: results from the Nurses’ Health Studies
    (BioMed Central, 2017) Beca, Francisco; Kensler, Kevin; Glass, Benjamin; Schnitt, Stuart; Tamimi, Rulla; Beck, Andrew
    Background: Enhancer of zeste homolog 2 (EZH2) is a polycomb-group protein that is involved in stem cell renewal and carcinogenesis. In breast cancer, increased EZH2 expression is associated with aggressiveness and has been suggested to identify normal breast epithelium at increased risk of breast cancer development. However, the association between EZH2 expression in benign breast tissue and breast cancer risk has not previously been evaluated in a large prospective cohort. Methods: We examined the association between EZH2 protein expression and subsequent breast cancer risk using logistic regression in a nested case-control study of benign breast disease (BBD) and breast cancer within the Nurses’ Health Studies. EZH2 immunohistochemical expression in normal breast epithelium and stroma was evaluated by computational image analysis and its association with breast cancer risk was analyzed after adjusting for matching factors between cases and controls, the concomitant BBD diagnosis, and the Ki67 proliferation index. Results: Women with a breast biopsy in which more than 20% of normal epithelial cells expressed EZH2 had a significantly increased risk of developing breast cancer (odds ratio (OR) 2.95, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.11–7.84) compared to women with less than 10% EZH2 epithelial expression. The risk of developing breast cancer increased for each 5% increase in EZH2 expression (OR 1.22, 95% CI 1.02–1.46, p value 0.026). Additionally, women with high EZH2 expression and low estrogen receptor (ER) expression had a 4-fold higher risk of breast cancer compared to women with low EZH2 and low ER expression (OR 4.02, 95% CI 1.29–12.59). Conclusions: These results provide further evidence that EZH2 expression in the normal breast epithelium is independently associated with breast cancer risk and might be used to assist in risk stratification for women with benign breast biopsies. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13058-017-0817-6) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
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    Precision Cancer Diagnostics: Tracking Genomic Evolution in Clinical Trials
    (Public Library of Science, 2016) Beca, Francisco; Beck, Andrew
    In a Perspective, Francisco Beca and Andrew Beck discuss Charles Swanton and colleagues' accompanying Research Article on somatic mutations in patients with inflammatory breast cancer treated in a Phase II clinical trial.