• AXL inhibition improves BRAF-targeted treatment in melanoma 

      Nyakas, Marta Sølvi; Fleten, Karianne Giller; Haugen, Mads Haugland; Engedal, Nikolai; Sveen, Christina; Farstad, Inger Nina; Flørenes, Vivi Ann; Prasmickaite, Lina; Mælandsmo, Gunhild Mari; Vasiliauskaite, Kotryna (Journal article; Tidsskriftartikkel; Peer reviewed, 2022)
      More than half of metastatic melanoma patients receiving standard therapy fail to achieve a long-term survival due to primary and/or acquired resistance. Tumor cell ability to switch from epithelial to a more aggressive mesenchymal phenotype, attributed with AXL<sup>high</sup> molecular profle in melanoma, has been recently linked to such event, limiting treatment efcacy. In the current study, ...
    • Basal‐like breast cancer engages tumor‐supportive macrophages via secreted factors induced by extracellular S100A4 

      Prasmickaite, Lina; Tenstad, Ellen; Pettersen, Solveig; Jabeen, Shakila; Egeland, Eivind Valen; Nord, Silje; Pandya, Abhilash D.; Haugen, Mads Haugland; Kristensen, Vessela N.; Børresen-Dale, Anne-Lise; Engebråten, Olav; Mælandsmo, Gunhild Mari (Journal article; Tidsskriftartikkel; Peer reviewed, 2018-05-09)
      The tumor microenvironment (TME) may influence both cancer progression and therapeutic response. In breast cancer, particularly in the aggressive triple‐negative/basal‐like subgroup, patient outcome is strongly associated with the tumor's inflammatory profile. Tumor‐associated macrophages (TAMs) are among the most abundant immune cells in the TME, shown to be linked to poor prognosis and therapeutic ...
    • Breast cancer patient-derived explant cultures recapitulate in vivo drug responses 

      Pettersen, Solveig; Øy, Geir Frode; Egeland, Eivind Valen; Juell, Siri; Engebråten, Olav; Mælandsmo, Gunhild Mari; Prasmickaite, Lina (Journal article; Tidsskriftartikkel; Peer reviewed, 2023-02-22)
      Assessment of drug sensitivity in tumor tissue ex vivo may significantly contribute to functional diagnostics to guide personalized treatment of cancer. Tumor organoid- and explant-cultures have become attractive tools towards this goal, although culturing conditions for breast cancer (BC) tissue have been among the most challenging to develop. Validation of possibilities to detect concordant responses ...
    • A combined experimental-computational approach uncovers a role for the Golgi matrix protein Giantin in breast cancer progression 

      Ghannoum, Salim; Fantini, Damiano; Zahoor, Muhammad; Reiterer, Veronika; Phuyal, Santosh; Leoncio Netto, Waldir; Sørensen, Øystein; Iyer, Arvind; Sengupta, Debarka; Prasmickaite, Lina; Mælandsmo, Gunhild Mari; Kohn Luque, Alvaro; Farhan, Hesso (Journal article; Tidsskriftartikkel; Peer reviewed, 2023-04-17)
      Our understanding of how speed and persistence of cell migration affects the growth rate and size of tumors remains incomplete. To address this, we developed a mathematical model wherein cells migrate in two-dimensional space, divide, die or intravasate into the vasculature. Exploring a wide range of speed and persistence combinations, we find that tumor growth positively correlates with increasing ...
    • Detection of phenotype-specific therapeutic vulnerabilities in breast cells using a CRISPR loss-of-function screen 

      Barkovskaya, Anna; Goodwin, Craig; Seip, Kotryna; Hilmarsdòttir, Bylgja; Pettersen, Solveig; Stalnecker, Clint; Engebraaten, Olav; Briem, Eirikur; Der, Channing J; Moestue, Siver Andreas; Guðjónsson, Þórarinn; Mælandsmo, Gunhild Mari; Prasmickaite, Lina (Journal article; Tidsskriftartikkel; Peer reviewed, 2021-03-24)
      Cellular phenotype plasticity between the epithelial and mesenchymal states has been linked to metastasis and heterogeneous responses to cancer therapy, and remains a challenge for the treatment of triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC). Here, we used isogenic human breast epithelial cell lines, D492 and D492M, representing the epithelial and mesenchymal phenotypes, respectively. We employed a CRISPR-Cas9 ...
    • Differential in vivo tumorigenicity of distinct subpopulations from a luminal-like breast cancer xenograft 

      Skrbo, Nirma; Hjortland, Geir Olav; Kristian, Alexandr; Holm, Ruth; Nordgard, Silje H.; Prasmickaite, Lina; Engebråten, Olav; Mælandsmo, Gunhild; Sørlie, Therese; Andersen, Kristin (Journal article; Tidsskriftartikkel; Peer reviewed, 2014)
    • Fibroblast-induced switching to the mesenchymal-like phenotype and PI3K/mTOR signaling protects melanoma cells from BRAF inhibitors 

      Vasiliauskaite, Kotryna; Fleten, Karianne Giller; Barkovskaya, Anna; Nygaard, Vigdis; Haugen, Mads Haugland; Engesæter, Birgit Øvstebø; Mælandsmo, Gunhild; Prasmickaite, Lina (Journal article; Tidsskriftartikkel; Peer reviewed, 2016)
      The knowledge on how tumor-associated stroma influences efficacy of anti-cancer therapy just started to emerge. Here we show that lung fibroblasts reduce melanoma sensitivity to the BRAF inhibitor (BRAFi) vemurafenib only if the two cell types are in close proximity. In the presence of fibroblasts, the adjacent melanoma cells acquire de-differentiated mesenchymal-like phenotype. Upon treatment with ...
    • Metabolic reprogramming supports the invasive phenotype in malignant melanoma 

      Bettum, Ingrid Johanne; Gorad, Saurabh Sayajirao; Barkovskaya, Anna; Pettersen, Solveig; Moestue, Siver Andreas; Vasiliauskaite, Kotryna; Tenstad, Ellen; Øyjord, Tove Ragnhild; Risa, Øystein; Nygaard, Vigdis; Mælandsmo, Gunhild; Prasmickaite, Lina (Journal article; Tidsskriftartikkel, 2015)
      Invasiveness is a hallmark of aggressive cancer like malignant melanoma, and factors involved in acquisition or maintenance of an invasive phenotype are attractive targets for therapy. We investigated melanoma phenotype modulation induced by the metastasis-promoting microenvironmental protein S100A4, focusing on the relationship between enhanced cellular motility, dedifferentiation and metabolic ...
    • Stroma-induced phenotypic plasticity offers phenotype-specific targeting to improve melanoma treatment 

      Seip, Kotryna; Jørgensen, Kjetil Nordbø; Haselager, Marco Vincent; Albrecht, Marco; Haugen, Mads Haugland; Egeland, Eivind Valen; Lucarelli, Philippe; Engebråten, Olav; Sauter, Thomas; Mælandsmo, Gunhild Mari; Prasmickaite, Lina (Journal article; Tidsskriftartikkel; Peer reviewed, 2018-09-18)
      Cancer cells' phenotypic plasticity, promoted by stromal cells, contributes to intra-tumoral heterogeneity and affects response to therapy. We have disclosed an association between fibroblast-stimulated phenotype switching and resistance to the clinically used BRAF inhibitor (BRAFi) vemurafenib in malignant melanoma, revealing a challenge in targeting the fibroblast-induced phenotype. Here we compared ...