Characterization of a novel immunogenic gene-expression program in breast cancer

Metastatic breast cancer is the second cause of cancer death in women, and effective therapeutic options are still limited up to date. In recent years, major advances in the field of cancer immunotherapy have emphasize the underlying therapeutic potential of immune checkpoint blockade and cancer vaccines, leading to a quest for tumor associated antigens. Somatic mutations or impaired RNA splicing in cancer cells are established sources of neoantigens, however the reactivation of unique developmental states in some cancers could also result in the generation of tumor-specific antigens capable of driving an adaptive immune response against malignant cells. Indeed, molecular profiling of breast cancers in mouse and human has revealed that some molecular subtypes share similarities with non-conventional mouse mammary stem cell populations. Here, we are exploring the possibility of a novel strategy for anti-cancer vaccination using these discoveries and specifically investigating the possibility to extend the current set of tumor associated antigens in breast cancer, with the identification a list of genes as candidates that are currently being tested in vitro and in vivo.