Europe PMC Team

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[[By Luisa Robbez-Masson (Barts Cancer Institute, Queen Mary University,
London,
UK)]{style="font-family: \"helvetica neue\" , \"arial\" , \"helvetica\" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"}]{style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: \"Times New Roman\"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"}  
[Short-listed for [*Access to
Understanding*](http://www.access2understanding.org/competition/)
2013]{style="font-family: \"arial\";"}  
[]{style="font-family: \"helvetica neue\" , \"arial\" , \"helvetica\" , sans-serif;"}

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[[Oestrogen
is]{style="font-family: \"helvetica neue\" , \"arial\" , \"helvetica\" , sans-serif;"}
a female hormone, produced in the  
ovaries, that stimulates the formation of the female sexual
characteristics at  
puberty. It also triggers the growth of the breast tissues during the  
reproductive cycle and during pregnancy. However, oestrogen exposure in
a  
woman's lifetime has been linked to breast cancer risk for many years.
During  
the development of breast cancer, oestrogen feeds the breast tissues and
the  
tumour indiscriminately and consequently helps its progression.
Treatments that  
block oestrogen receptors have been successfully used in the clinic,
however  
the response is difficult to predict and some patients eventually
develop  
resistance to those drugs. Understanding how oestrogen and its receptor
work is  
key to developing new effective therapies against breast
cancer.]{style="font-family: \"helvetica neue\" , \"arial\" , \"helvetica\" , sans-serif;"}
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[[![](https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-zrws7xJcUjg/Umj0rJnlyXI/AAAAAAAAAI0/NWriKGDhPU8/s400/shutterstock_71178904.jpg){decoding="async"
loading="lazy" border="0" height="266"
width="400"}]{style="font-family: \"helvetica neue\" , \"arial\" , \"helvetica\" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"}](http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-zrws7xJcUjg/Umj0rJnlyXI/AAAAAAAAAI0/NWriKGDhPU8/s1600/shutterstock_71178904.jpg){style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"}
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[[Microscope view of ductal Breast Cancer cells in tissue
culture]{style="font-family: \"helvetica neue\" , \"arial\" , \"helvetica\" , sans-serif;"}
]{style="font-size: xx-small;"}
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[[Shutterstock Image ID 71178904, Copyright: Paul Hakimata
Photography]{style="font-size: xx-small;"}]{style="font-family: \"helvetica neue\" , \"arial\" , \"helvetica\" , sans-serif;"}
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[Scientists at Cancer Research UK in Cambridge  
have discovered that the oestrogen receptor (ER) activates a different
set of  
genes in breast cancer patients who died compared to patients who
survived.  
This important study could help scientists understand why a disease
that  
appears superficially identical, has such differing outcomes in terms
of  
response to treatment and, ultimately,
survival.]{style="font-family: \"helvetica neue\" , \"arial\" , \"helvetica\" , sans-serif;"}
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[ER belongs to the family of transcription factors,  
which means that it can travel to the cell nucleus, when partnered
with  
oestrogen, and reach the DNA molecules that harbour all our genes. Like
all  
transcription factors, ER has the capacity to attach to some specific
"target"  
genes, and lead to their activation or inhibition, which will in turn
tell the  
cells how to behave. ER is aided in reaching its nuclear targets by
the  
pathfinder transcription factor FOXA1, which opens up the DNA molecule
for easy  
access. It is known that this collaboration between ER and FOXA1
involves many  
genes and is very dynamic, but the importance of its role in cancer
development  
is still
unclear.]{style="font-family: \"helvetica neue\" , \"arial\" , \"helvetica\" , sans-serif;"}
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[Using molecular biology tools, scientists can  
"capture" a transcription factor together with the DNA to which it is
bound. It  
is then possible to read the DNA sequence obtained from these binding
events in  
order to identify target genes of specific transcription factors. This  
technique, previously used in cancer cell line models, was applied for
the  
first time by the team in Cambridge  
to biopsies from breast cancer patients that all possessed ER and FOXA1.
These  
patients were carefully chosen according to how aggressive their cancer
was:  
eight patients with good prognosis, seven patients with bad prognosis
and three  
who had a relapse and developed metastases were
selected.]{style="font-family: \"helvetica neue\" , \"arial\" , \"helvetica\" , sans-serif;"}
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[The team identified the target genes of ER and  
compared them between the different groups. The results showed that 484
binding  
sites (i.e. spots on the DNA where ER is bound) were common to most of
the  
patients, but that the strength of the binding was more important in
poor  
outcome and relapse patients compared to good outcome ones. The
experiment also  
indicated that the different outcome patients can be well characterised
by a  
specific set of ER bound genes: 1,192 binding sites were predominantly
found in  
the poor prognosis group and another, distinct 599 binding sites were  
representative of the good outcomes. The authors also observed that
the  
pathfinder FOXA1 was more often binding near the poor outcome ER binding
sites  
than the good
ones.]{style="font-family: \"helvetica neue\" , \"arial\" , \"helvetica\" , sans-serif;"}
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[The experiments revealed that ER was responsible  
for a double whammy; activating the poor outcome genes but also
inhibiting the  
genes in the good outcome group, meaning that the binding of ER at
those  
specific binding sites was biologically relevant in term of regulating
cell  
behaviour.]{style="font-family: \"helvetica neue\" , \"arial\" , \"helvetica\" , sans-serif;"}
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[![](https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-FGR9llZxnQQ/Umj4N_6NSrI/AAAAAAAAAJA/Vd-NwJFMd2Q/s400/shutterstock_159232019.jpg){decoding="async"
loading="lazy" border="0" height="300"
width="400"}](http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-FGR9llZxnQQ/Umj4N_6NSrI/AAAAAAAAAJA/Vd-NwJFMd2Q/s1600/shutterstock_159232019.jpg){style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"}
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[Estrogen (estradiol) female sex hormone, molecular
model]{style="font-family: \"helvetica neue\" , \"arial\" , \"helvetica\" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"}
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[[Shutterstock Image ID
[159232019]{style="font-family: \"helvetica neue\" , \"arial\" , \"helvetica\" , sans-serif;"}[,]{style="font-family: \"helvetica neue\" , \"arial\" , \"helvetica\" , sans-serif;"}
Copyright:
Iculig]{style="font-size: xx-small;"}]{style="font-family: \"arial\";"}
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[﻿]{style="font-family: \"helvetica neue\" , \"arial\" , \"helvetica\" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"}
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[In order to validate these finding they turned to  
well established cancer cell line models that were either drug sensitive
or  
drug resistant, reproducing what is seen in patients. However, contrary
to what  
they had hypothesised, the drug sensitive cell model was more similar to
the  
poor outcome patients group, in term of ER binding sites, possibly
suggesting  
that these models constitute an intermediate category of tumours, with
an ER  
binding profile resembling more advanced tumours, on their way to
acquired drug  
resistance. The events that led to this intermediate category might have
been  
caused by the presence of other stimuli, such as other hormones or
growth  
factors for instance, in the patients from whom the cell line models
were  
established. By treating drug sensitive cells with some of these
chemical  
stimuli, they were able to shift the ER binding profile, and observed an
increase  
in new FOXA1 binding
sites.]{style="font-family: \"helvetica neue\" , \"arial\" , \"helvetica\" , sans-serif;"}
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[We have known for many years that ER can play a  
critical role in orchestrating the behaviour of breast cancer cells, but
the  
emergence of FOXA1 as the principal conductor sets the stage for novel  
approaches in targeted
therapy.]{style="font-family: \"helvetica neue\" , \"arial\" , \"helvetica\" , sans-serif;"}  
[]{style="font-family: \"arial\";"}  
[*This entry[[[[
]{style="font-family: \"helvetica neue\" , \"arial\" , \"helvetica\" , sans-serif;"}]{style="color: black; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: \"Times New Roman\"; mso-fareast-font-family: \"Times New Roman\"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"}]{style="font-family: \"helvetica neue\" , \"arial\" , \"helvetica\" , sans-serif;"}]{style="color: black; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: \"Times New Roman\"; mso-fareast-font-family: \"Times New Roman\"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"}*]{style="font-family: \"arial\";"}

describes research published in the following article, selected by
Cancer Research UK:  
[]{style="font-family: \"arial\";"}

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[[Differential oestrogen receptor binding is associated with clinical
outcome in breast
cancer](http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC3272464)]{style="font-family: \"helvetica neue\" , \"arial\" , \"helvetica\" , sans-serif;"}  
[PMCID:PMC3272464]{style="font-family: \"arial\";"}
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[Caryn S. Ross-Innes, Rory Stark, Andrew E. Teschendorff, Kelly A.
Holmes, H. Raza Ali, Mark J. Dunning, Gordon D. Brown, Ondrej Gojis, Ian
O. Ellis, Andrew R. Green, Simak Ali, Suet-Feung Chin, Carlo Palmieri,
Carlos Caldas, and Jason S.
Carroll]{style="font-family: \"helvetica neue\" , \"arial\" , \"helvetica\" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"}
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[[*Nature* (2012) **481(7381),**
389-393]{style="font-family: \"helvetica neue\" , \"arial\" , \"helvetica\" , sans-serif;"}]{style="font-size: x-small;"}
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[]{style="font-family: \"arial\";"}  
[]{style="font-family: \"arial\";"}  
[[[[[[[*[Access to
Understanding](http://www.access2understanding.org/competition/)*
entrants are asked to write a plain English summary of a research
article. For *Access to Understanding 2013* there were 9 articles to
choose from, selected by the [Europe PMC
funders](http://europepmc.org/Funders/).]{style="font-family: \"helvetica neue\" , \"arial\" , \"helvetica\" , sans-serif;"}  
[]{style="font-family: \"helvetica neue\" , \"arial\" , \"helvetica\" , sans-serif;"}  
**[The articles are all available from Europe PMC, are free to read and
download, and were supported by one or more of the Europe PMC
funders.]{style="font-family: \"helvetica neue\" , \"arial\" , \"helvetica\" , sans-serif;"}**  
[]{style="font-family: \"arial\";"}  
[]{style="font-family: \"arial\";"}  
[Look out here and on Twitter
]{style="font-family: \"arial\";"}[[@EuropePMC_news]{style="font-family: \"arial\";"}](https://twitter.com/EuropePMC_news)[
for announcements about the
competition.]{style="font-family: \"arial\";"}]{style="font-family: \"helvetica neue\" , \"arial\" , \"helvetica\" , sans-serif;"}]{style="font-family: \"arial\";"}]{style="font-family: \"helvetica neue\" , \"arial\" , \"helvetica\" , sans-serif;"}]{style="font-family: \"arial\";"}]{style="font-family: \"arial\";"}]{style="font-family: \"arial\";"}
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[[By Luisa Robbez-Masson (Barts Cancer Institute, Queen Mary University, London, UK)]{style=“font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: small;”}]{style=“font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;

Breast cancer: Two-face ER

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[*by Ian Le Guillou, Department of Biochemistry, University of
Cambridge*]{style="font-family: \"helvetica neue\" , \"arial\" , \"helvetica\" , sans-serif;"}
:::

  
[Although contradictory to the hopes of the Access to Understanding  
competition, writing about the work described in
]{style="font-family: \"helvetica neue\" , \"arial\" , \"helvetica\" , sans-serif;"}[['NLK
is a Novel Therapeutic Target for PTEN Deficient Tumour
Cells](http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC3483146)']{style="color: black; font-family: \"helvetica neue\" , \"arial\" , \"helvetica\" , sans-serif;"}[
made me realise  
the importance of scientific jargon. Yes, it makes research very
difficult to  
understand for anyone outside of that specialism, but it exists for a
reason.]{style="font-family: \"helvetica neue\" , \"arial\" , \"helvetica\" , sans-serif;"}

  

  
[My
article]{style="color: black; font-family: \"helvetica neue\" , \"arial\" , \"helvetica\" , sans-serif;"}[
was 800 words long and yet I barely covered the contents of the  
paper's abstract, which also has the aim of summarising the work for
an  
interested audience. The abstract was only 155 words: a five-fold
compression  
through the use of jargon. This means that scientists in the field can
take in  
the important points and decide whether to read further in less than 30
seconds  
-- an important issue when there are thousands of research papers
published  
every
day.]{style="font-family: \"helvetica neue\" , \"arial\" , \"helvetica\" , sans-serif;"}

  

  
[Scientific jargon is so compact because the words have very precise
meanings  
that do not need to be explained to those in the know. The PTEN paper
was  
probably the closest fit to my own research of the papers in the
competition,  
but still far enough that I had to look up several terms. However, this
helped  
when writing about it because I knew which were the complicated
sections. That  
meant I could make an extra effort when explaining it to other people.
The  
familiarity is key: after using the same jargon every day among
colleagues, it  
is far from easy to switch it off. It takes a concerted effort to
avoid  
slipping into your usual vernacular and to explain each concept from
its  
basics.]{style="font-family: \"helvetica neue\" , \"arial\" , \"helvetica\" , sans-serif;"}

  

  
[Scientists are increasingly being expected to interact with the public
as  
part of their duty. Researchers are being given media training or being
offered  
public engagement courses to help with this, but it is no easy task.
There are  
few professions that are expected to balance the deeply specialised
vocabulary  
of their peers with an expectation to be public
facing.]{style="font-family: \"helvetica neue\" , \"arial\" , \"helvetica\" , sans-serif;"}

  

  
[I see the Access to Understanding competition as part of the movement
to  
bring science into the 21^st^ century, where Web 2.0 has democratised  
information. The media are no longer the gatekeepers; everyone can
publish and  
everyone can access. The public no longer rely as much on journalists to
learn  
about the latest developments; instead they can go straight to the
source.  
Social media and blogs allow scientists to explain the significance of
what  
they do and directly connect with people who are interested in their
research.]{style="font-family: \"helvetica neue\" , \"arial\" , \"helvetica\" , sans-serif;"}

  

  
[Although jargon is important and necessary for scientists to
communicate  
among themselves, it creates a barrier to the outside world. We can't
blame  
scientists for using jargon, but the public want to hear from them. It
will  
take a lot of practice to explain in plain language but hopefully that
way  
everyone will have a greater access to
understanding.]{style="font-family: \"helvetica neue\" , \"arial\" , \"helvetica\" , sans-serif;"}  
[]{style="font-family: \"helvetica neue\" , \"arial\" , \"helvetica\" , sans-serif;"}  
[]{style="font-family: \"helvetica neue\" , \"arial\" , \"helvetica\" , sans-serif;"}  
[]{style="font-family: \"helvetica neue\" , \"arial\" , \"helvetica\" , sans-serif;"}  
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[[[**Note:**  
]{style="font-family: \"helvetica neue\" , \"arial\" , \"helvetica\" , sans-serif;"}]{style="color: #5a595e; font-family: \"arial\" , \"sans-serif\";"}[[Ian]{style="color: #20699c;"}]{style="font-family: \"helvetica neue\" , \"arial\" , \"helvetica\" , sans-serif;"}[
[was one of the winners (awarded joint second place) of  
the 2013
]{style="color: #5a595e;"}]{style="font-family: \"helvetica neue\" , \"arial\" , \"helvetica\" , sans-serif;"}[[[Access
to
Understanding]{style="color: #20699c;"}]{style="font-family: \"helvetica neue\" , \"arial\" , \"helvetica\" , sans-serif;"}](http://www.access2understanding.org/competition/)[
[science-writing competition for his entry '[Another brick in the
wall']{style="color: #20699c;"},  
]{style="color: #5a595e;"}]{style="font-family: \"helvetica neue\" , \"arial\" , \"helvetica\" , sans-serif;"}[[which
describes research published in the  
article]{style="color: #5a595e;"}[  
['[NLK](http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC3483146)]{style="color: #20699c;"}
[is a novel therapeutic target for PTEN deficient tumour
cells'](http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC3483146).]{style="color: #5a595e; font-family: \"arial\" , \"sans-serif\";"}]{style="font-family: \"helvetica neue\" , \"arial\" , \"helvetica\" , sans-serif;"}]{style="font-family: \"helvetica neue\" , \"arial\" , \"helvetica\" , sans-serif;"}  
[[]{style="color: #5a595e;"}  
]{style="font-family: \"helvetica neue\" , \"arial\" , \"helvetica\" , sans-serif;"}  
[[See also guest posts by competition winners [Emma
Pewsey](http://blog.europepmc.org/2013/03/why-i-entered-access-to-understanding.html)
(first place) and [Claire
Sand](http://blog.europepmc.org/2013/04/my-reflections-on-access-to.html)
(joint second place) for their reflections on Access to
Understanding.]{style="color: #5a595e;"}]{style="font-family: \"helvetica neue\" , \"arial\" , \"helvetica\" , sans-serif;"}
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[  
]{style="font-family: \"helvetica neue\" , \"arial\" , \"helvetica\" , sans-serif;"}
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[
<em>
 by Ian Le Guillou, Department of Biochemistry, University of Cambridge
</em>
]{style=“font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;”}  [Although contradictory to the hopes of the Access to Understanding competition, writing about the work described in ]{style=“font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;”}[’NLK is a Novel Therapeutic Target for PTEN Deficient Tumour Cells’]{style=“color: black;

Messaggi di Rogue Scholar

Breast cancer: Two-face ER

The Importance of Jargon