Chromosomal instability, the continuous formation of novel chromosome mutations at a rate higher than in normal cells, is a defining characteristic of most human cancers. Twist is a basic helix-loop-helix transcription factor that is a major regulator of mesenchymal phenotypes. JHU scientists have developed a breast cancer cell line (MCF-7/Twist) that stably overexpresses human Twist. The overexpression of Twist causes an epithelial to mesenchymal-like transition (EMLT) which leads to an increase in invasiveness and motility of this cell line. Studies of the MCF-7/Twist cell line indicates Twist in some capacity, promotes chromosomal instability in the MCF-7 cell line. These findings have validated previous results that Twist-expressing tumors exhibited increased chromosomal abnormalities as compared to Twist non-expressers. This represents the first direct correlation between overexpression of Twist and increased chromosomal instability in both tissue culture and patient breast tumors.
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This cancer cell line can be used as a model to study the role of Twist (a basic-helix-loop-helix protein essential for embryogenesis) in breast cancer biogenesis and metastasis.
