Buenos Aires
Breast Cancer
Symposium

BA-BCS 2024

September 3 – 6, 2024

IFIBYNE Auditorium, FCEN-UBA

Poster No. 62

Impact of let-7b-5p on triple negative breast cancer growth and progression.

Agustina Grinpelc1, Juana Moro1, Erick Merizalde1, Athina Carducci Sartorio1, Leandro Vera Sanchez1, Karen Daniela Graña1, Georgina Daniela Scalise1, Flavia Piccioni2, Fiorella Campo Verde Arbocco3, Adriana De Siervi1, Paola De Luca De Luca1

1.Instituto de Biología y Medicina Experimental (IBYME-CONICET). 2.Laboratorio de Inmunobiología del cáncer - Instituto de Investigaciones en Medicina Traslacional (IIMT) - Universidad Austral - CONICET. 3. Laboratorio de Hormonas y Biología del Cáncer - Laboratorio de Endocrinología de la Reproducción y Lactancia, IMBECU CONICET. Universidad de Mendoza, Facultad de Ciencias Médicas.

Presenting Autor:
Grinpelc, Agustina

Instituto de Biología y Medicina Experimental (IBYME-CONICET).

Breast cancer (BC) is a leading cause of cancer-related deaths among women, with triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) being particularly aggressive and challenging to treat. MiRNAs are small non-coding RNAs that regulate gene expression. Their aberrant expression is linked to pathologies such as BC. Previously, we found that let-7b-5p was diminished in BC tissue compared to adjacent normal tissue using bioinformatic approaches. The aim of this work was to investigate the effect of let-7b-5p in TNBC. Our hypothesis is that let-7b-5p acts as a tumor suppressor in TNBC. We analyzed let-7b-5p expression levels in PAM50 basal-like BC tumors and normal mammary tissue (NT) from TCGA BRCA and GTEx project data sets. We found that let-7b-5p was significantly diminished in PAM50 basal-like BC tissue compared to NT. We also found that its expression is decreased in basal-like BC compared to the other PAM50 BC molecular subtypes using UCSC Xena tool. Then, we evaluated let-7b-5p effects in the TNBC cells, MDA-MB-231 and 4T1, using stable transfections with expression vectors or transient transfections with a let-7b-5p mimic or negative control (NC), respectively. Overexpression of let-7b-5p reduced the clonogenic capability of MDA-MB-231 cells. On the other hand, let-7b-5p increased the viability under serum deprivation conditions and cell adhesion of 4T1 cells. Moreover, let-7b-5p reduced migration of both, 4T1 and MDA-MB-231 cells. Finally, the effect of treatment with a single dose of PEI nanoparticles containing a let-7b-5p mimic or NC was analyzed in female Balb/c mice with 4T1 orthotopic tumors. Tumor size was decreased on days 11 and 12 after treatment with the let-7b-5p mimic compared to NC. These findings constitute the initial step for developing therapies for TNBC based on a specific let-7b-5p miRNA mimic. Further research is needed to understand the mechanisms by which let-7b-5p influences TNBC and evaluate its effect on metastasis.