# The Role of E2F2 in HER2 Positive Breast Cancer

> **NIH NIH K00** · DANA-FARBER CANCER INST · 2021 · $104,406

## Abstract

For advanced stage breast cancer, poor prognosis is a reflection of both metastatic progression
and inadequate treatment strategies of the disease. Low overall survival and limited efficacy
during the management of metastatic breast cancer highlights the need for targeted therapies
tailored to treating metastatic breast cancer. Though treatments specifically targeting metastatic
disease have been elusive, high throughput drug screening guided by genomic changes tied to
metastatic progression promises to bring new treatment strategies to breast cancer. In pursuit of
this, I have begun to acquire an integrative toolset, which has focused largely on bioinformatic
and mouse model techniques. I will continue expand my knowledge to include high-throughput
drug screening and immunomodulatory techniques as I finish my pre-doctoral work and move to
the post-doctoral stage of my career. I will pursue this through three specific aims highlighting
each stage of my career. In my first aim, which highlights the work completed in my graduate
studies is to annotate conserved SNPs, CNVs, and translocations in human and mouse tumors
to identify driving genes of tumor progression. This was pursued using a combination of
bioinformatic techniques to interrogate whole genome sequencing data and gene expression
microarrays as well as leverage CRISPR-Cas9 technology to validate target gene through both
in vitro and in vivo metastasis assays. The second aim which I will complete in the remainder of
my graduate studies focuses on determining the impact and therapeutic vulnerabilities
associated with those differences identified in aim 1. This aim will once again leverage a
number of bioinformatic tools and CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing to identify potential therapeutic
vulnerabilities. These will be confirmed through the use of high throughput drug screening and
PDX mouse models. The third aim which I will pursue in my post-doctoral studies will focus on
identifying the interaction of the tumor and the normal host tissue and how this relates to
treatment response. In particular I will focus on identifying mutations within the tumor and the
normal cells that lead to differential treatment response. This will be completed with a focus on
tumor immunotherapy. By completing this work I will identify key SNPs, CNVs, and
translocation that drive tumor progression and therapeutic response.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10199947
- **Project number:** 5K00CA212221-06
- **Recipient organization:** DANA-FARBER CANCER INST
- **Principal Investigator:** JONATHAN RENNHACK
- **Activity code:** K00 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $104,406
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2018-08-01 → 2022-07-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10199947

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10199947, The Role of E2F2 in HER2 Positive Breast Cancer (5K00CA212221-06). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-06-15 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10199947. Licensed CC0.

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