Role and predictive value of red blood cells in breast cancer metastasis

Abstract

Breast cancer is the most common cancer diagnosed in women around the world. Around 30% of the patients will eventually develop metastasis, which is responsible for 90 % of cancerrelated deaths. In order to find new biomarkers and therapy targets for these patients, it is important to study the metastatic process and the cells that take part in it. This thesis focused on the study of red blood cells, one of the most overlooked interplayer in cancer and metastasis. The results shown that RBCs from metastatic breast cancer patients were capable of interacting, and more importantly, modifying breast cancer cells, increasing their aggressiveness. Moreover, this thesis provided evidence of the RBCs potential to be used as predictive biomarkers of the presence of metastasis.