Triple-Negative Breast Cancer Cell Growth May Be Driven by Tumor “Suppressor”

A member of a protein family that has previously been thought to play a tumor-suppressive role in breast cancer may in fact be key to the maintenance of self-renewing cancer stem cells (CSCs) that drive one of the most aggressive form of the disease. Studies by a Cleveland Clinic team, headed by Justin Lathia, Ph.D., and Ofer Reizes, Ph.D., found that the gap junction (GJ) protein connexin 26 (Cx26) forms part of a signaling complex that drives CSC maintenance in triple-negative breast cancer (T