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SBU Researchers Uncover Potential Biomarker For Aggressive Breast Cancer

In an analysis of more than 1,300 human breast tissue samples, a team of Stony Brook University School of Medicine researchers discovered a possible role of the squamous cell carcinoma antigen (SCCA) in the progression of breast cancer.

Wei-Xing Zong, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Department of Molecular Genetics & Microbiology, and colleagues found that SCCA expression correlated to both grade and stage of cancer. The finding, reported in the current issue of PLoS One, may be a crucial step to developing SCCA as a biomarker and therapeutic target for aggressive and advanced stage breast cancers.

SCCA is an inhibitor of cellular proteases that digests other proteins. Elevated expression of SCCA has been used in medicine as a biomarker for aggressive squamous cell carcinoma in cancers of the cervix, lung, and head and neck. More recently its expression has also been detected in cancers that are not originated from squamous cells such as liver cancer. The report in PLoS One, titled “Elevated expression of squamous cell carcinoma antigen is associated with human breast carcinoma,” investigates a new association with elevated expressions of SCCA and cancer.

“While there has been significant progress in treating breast cancer, aggressive disease remains difficult to treat and cure,” says Dr. Zong. “Our findings open the door for SCCA to be explored as a useful marker for predicting outcomes of those suffering from aggressive breast cancers and for SCCA to become a potential therapeutic target to treat cancers unresponsive to current therapies.”