Defining the role of in utero estrogenic endocrine disruption on mammary gland stiffness and breast cancer risk

项目总结/摘要 雌激素类内分泌干扰物（EDCs）广泛存在于农药和其他工业产品中 在环境中长时间保持活性的产品。她们的母亲 产前暴露于雌激素EDC二乙基己烯雌酚（DES）和二氯二苯基三氯乙烷（DDT） 会增加患乳腺癌的风险尽管EDC暴露与癌症风险之间存在联系， 最终驱动肿瘤发生的详细机制在很大程度上仍然未知。这种缺乏 理解限制了准确确定雌激素性EDC的个体和群体风险的能力 暴露。本提案的目标是确定EDC暴露与癌症之间的联系机制 并提供能够评估EDC暴露风险的生物学标志物。 我们已经确定了一些EDC驱动的乳腺基质内的重编程事件。 这些事件包括导致乳腺硬度增加的胶原蛋白沉积增加， 降低细胞外基质（ECM）的渗透性。类似的间质组织变化已经显示 在动物模型中增加癌症易感性，并似乎提供了与EDC的生物学联系- 驱动的肿瘤发生。我们的总体假设是雌激素样内分泌干扰物改变了 乳腺内的信号传导导致ECM变化，最终导致乳腺癌。我们 我建议使用具有以下特定目的的明确定义的小鼠模型系统来测试该假设：1） 表征有助于乳腺基质分子的雌激素性EDC诱导机制， 组织改变2)评价雌激素性EDC诱导的基质改变对乳腺癌的作用 癌症风险。这些研究将回答该领域的几个关键问题，包括雌激素活性是如何 内分泌干扰物影响基质改变，基质改变如何改变组织稳态信号， 乳腺发育和确定间质成纤维细胞内的表观遗传重编程事件 从子宫到成年都在传播EDC。我们预计，这一分析将提供 为理解环境内分泌干扰物如何驱动肿瘤发生以及提供 EDC暴露的潜在生物标志物和治疗靶点。

PROJECT SUMMARY / ABSTRACT Estrogenic endocrine disrupting compounds (EDCs) are ubiquitous in pesticides and other industrial products where they remain active in the environment for extended periods. Daughters of women who were exposed prenatally to the estrogenic EDC diethystilbestrol (DES) and dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) exhibit an increased risk of breast cancers. Despite a link between EDC exposure and cancer risk the detailed mechanism(s) that ultimately drive tumorigenesis remains largely unknown. This lack of understanding limits the ability to accurately determine the individual and population risk of estrogenic EDC exposures. The goal of this proposal is to determine the mechanism(s) that links EDC exposure to cancer and to provide biological markers capable of evaluating EDC exposure risk. We have identified a number of EDC-driven reprogramming events within the mammary gland stroma. These events include increased collagen deposition that results in increased mammary gland stiffness and decreased permeability of the extracellular matrix (ECM). Similar stromal tissue changes have been shown to increase cancer susceptibility in animal models and appear to provide a biological connection to EDC- driven tumorigenesis. It is our overarching hypothesis that estrogenic EDCs alter the homeostatic signaling within the mammary gland leading to ECM changes that ultimately drive breast cancer. We propose to test this hypothesis using a well-defined mouse model system with the following Specific Aims: 1) Characterize the estrogenic EDC-induced mechanism(s) that contribute to breast stromal molecular and tissue alterations. 2) Evaluate the contribution of estrogenic EDC-induced stromal alterations to breast cancer risk. These studies will answer several key questions in the field including how the estrogenic activity of EDCs impact stromal alterations, how stromal alterations alter tissue homeostatic signaling during mammary gland development and determine the epigenetic reprogramming events within stromal fibroblasts that propagate an EDC exposure from the womb through adulthood. We expect that this analysis will provide a strong foundation for understanding how environmental EDCs drive tumorigenesis as well as provide potential biomarkers and therapeutic targets for EDC exposure.