Mechanical phenotype is important for stromal aromatase expression

Sagar Ghosh, Tao Kang, Howard Wang, Yanfen Hu, Rong Li

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

7 Scopus citations

Abstract

Evidence that aromatase expression in tumor-associated breast stroma is elevated, provides a rationale for use of aromatase inhibitors (AIs) in breast cancer treatment. However, regulation of local aromatase expression in cancer-free breast stroma is poorly understood. Recent clinical work indicates that stromal cells in dense breast tissue tend to express higher levels of aromatase than their counterpart from non-dense tissue. Consistent with the clinical observation, our cell culture-based study indicated that cell density, cell shape, and extracellular matrix (ECM) significantly induced stromal aromatase expression via a distinct signal transduction pathway. In addition, we identified a number of cell surface markers that are commonly associated with aromatase-expressing stromal cells. As mammographic density is one of the strongest and most prevalent risk factors for breast cancer, these findings provide a potential mechanistic link between alterations in tissue composition of dense breast tissue and increased stromal aromatase expression. Further exploration of the in vitro model system may advance understanding of an important problem in breast cancer biology.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)797-801
Number of pages5
JournalSteroids
Volume76
Issue number8
DOIs
StatePublished - Jul 2011

Keywords

  • Aromatase
  • Cell density
  • Cell shape
  • ECM
  • Mammographic density
  • Mechanical phenotype

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Biochemistry
  • Molecular Biology
  • Endocrinology
  • Pharmacology
  • Clinical Biochemistry
  • Organic Chemistry

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