Exploring Microtentacle Formation

Riyan Campbell

Mentor: Dr. Michele Vitolo

University of Maryland Greenebaum Center

Triple negative breast cancer is defined by its absence of its progesterone receptor expression and ERB2, causing a lack of target for chemotherapeutic practices. This breast cancer subtype has shown a correlation with microtubule based membrane protrusion called microtentacles(McTN). Triple negative breast cancer has proven to be a challenge in today’s clinical practice partially due to the heterogeneity of the primary tumor and subsequent metastatic lesion. The aim of this project is to analyze microtentacle formation within the three different triple negative breast cancer lines based on their conditions in vivo. Primarily cell attachment and migration, colony formation, and microtubule frequency were used to obtain results. The data shows that there may be a significant correlation between McTN frequency and cytoskeleton driven phenotypes including an increase in attachment and migration. The resulting data also suggests that selective in vivo conditions cause changes in proliferation and in long term growth.