Bone morphogenetic protein signaling in breast cancer progression

Abstract

Breast cancer is the most prevalent type of cancer amongst women worldwide. The mortality rate for patients with early-stage breast cancer has been decreasing, however, the 5-year survival rate for patients with metastatic disease remains poor, currently at 27%. Here, we have reviewed the current understanding of the role of bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) signaling in breast cancer progression, and have highlighted the discordant results that are reported in different studies. We propose that some of these contradictory outcomes may result from signaling through either the canonical or non-canonical pathways in different cell lines and tumors, or from different tumor-stromal interactions that occur in vivo.

Keywords:

• Breast cancer
• bone morphogenetic proteins
• SMAD4
• signaling

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Disclosure statement

The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by a grant from the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) project grant 1121199 (RLA) and graduate scholarship support from La Trobe University (LHC). RLA has received fellowship support from the National Breast Cancer Foundation of Australia.