Breast cancer is the second most common malignancy in women and each year in the United States approximately 200,000 new patients are diagnosed with the disease. Thus, there is an urgent need to develop new strategies to tackle this deadly illness. We have discovered that proteins secreted from cancer cells can promote cancer cell migration when chemically modified by a molecule of phosphate in a process termed phosphorylation. The objective of this proposal is to understand the mechanisms by which these secreted phosphoproteins promote cancer cell metastasis. The results from the work described herein may have important implications for patients with breast cancer.

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