Assay to Screen Anti-metastatic Drugs

Scientists at the NCI developed a research tool, a murine cell line model (JygMC(A)) with a reporter construct, of spontaneous metastatic mammary carcinoma that resembles the human breast cancer metastatic process in a triple negative mammary tumor. The assay is useful for screening compounds that specifically inhibit pathways involved in mammary carcinoma and can improve clinical management of of triple negative breast cancer that are greatly refractory to conventional chemo and radiotherapy. The key feature of the cell line is that when introduced orthotopically into the mammary gland of immunocompromised mice it produces murine mammary tumors that rapidly metastasize to distant sites, such as lungs, lymph nodes, liver and kidneys. This allows for precise tracking of tumor growth and metastasis.

Competitive Advantages:

• Dual report construct: enhanced green fluorescent protein (eGFP) or a fusion of firefly luciferase and eGFP (ffLuc2-eFGP) and mouse Cripto-1 promoter sequence cloned into a vector for reporter assays and/or visualization of  molecular mechanisms involved in tumorigenesis of metastatic breast cancer cells.

Commercial Applications:

• Laboratory tool to investigate molecular mechanisms and/or signaling pathways involved in tumorigenesis, angiogenesis and  metastasis of breast cancer and its response to therapy  (in vivo and in vitro).
• Research tool for high through-put screening of libraries for compounds that specifically inhibit mechanisms and/or signaling pathways involved in metastatic triple negative breast cancer.
• Research tool to optimize therapeutic regimens.