Letrozole (Femara) early response to treatment

Tumorigenic breast cancer cells characterized by high CD44 and low or undetectable CD24 levels (CD44+/CD24-/low) may be resistant to conventional therapies and responsible for cancer relapse. We defined a signature expression pattern of hundreds of genes associated with CD44+/CD24-/low, mammosphere-forming cells. In a panel of patient breast tumors, this tumorigenic gene signature was found exclusively manifested in tumors of the recently identified claudin-low molecular profile subtype characterized by overexpression of many mesenchymal-associated genes, suggesting that these tumors have pre-existing higher levels of tumorigenic cells. Furthermore, when comparing the expression profiles of paired breast cancer core biopsies before versus after hormone therapy or chemotherapy, both the tumorigenic and claudin-low signatures were more active in about half of tumors after treatment, indicative of a greater enrichment of tumorigenic cells as a result of treatments targeting the bulk tumor cells.

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Creighton CJ, Li X, Landis M, Dixon JM, Neumeister VM, Sjolund A, Rimm DL, Wong H, Rodriguez A, Herschkowitz JI, Fan C, Zhang X, He X, Pavlick A, Gutierrez MC, Renshaw L, Larionov AA, Faratian D, Hilsenbeck SG, Perou CM, Lewis MT, Rosen JM, Chang JC