Episode 1 - Paul Savage - A Targetable EGFR-Dependent Tumor-Initiating Program in Breast Cancer

Paul Savage is an MD-PhD student in the lab of Dr. Morag Park at the Goodman Cancer Research Centre in Montreal, Canada. In this episode, we discuss his latest article published in the October 2017 edition of Cell Reports. Using a patient-derived xenograft model to screen triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) tumours for susceptibility to targeted therapies, he and his colleagues identified an exceptional responder to treatment with the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) inhibitor gefitinib. Single-cell RNA sequencing and functional assays were used to characterize a new tumour-initiating program within this exceptional responder, which may represent a new target in the treatment of a subset of TNBC patients.