Our laboratory uses a variety of mouse models of cancer to study the fundamental aspects of oncogenesis that have become important features of new therapeutic approaches to cancer. The questions we will pursue under the terms of this award include: At which stages of a developmental lineage are cells susceptible to oncogenic mutations? What determines whether a cancer cell is dependent on an inciting oncogene for continued viability? What is the role of apoptotic signaling pathways in the phenomenon of oncogene-dependence? And what do answers to such questions imply for the development of more effective therapies? The proposed studies will employ new and existing mouse models of cancer affecting the hematopoietic system (the myeloid and B cell lineages) and the pancreas and a variety of known oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes. In particular, we will explore the role of the anti-apoptotic members of the BCL family in oncogene cooperation and oncogene dependence;establish the stage-specific vulnerability of the B cell lineage to Myc-mediated lymphomagenesis;and determine the limitations to exercising the full oncogenic potential of polyoma middle T antigen in pancreatic beta cells. The implications of these studies for understanding human carcinogenesis and developing new therapeutic approaches to human cancers will be vigorously explored. The three post-doctoral fellows who will be performing most of the work under the terms of this award are well-trained for the projects we propose here. Dr. Levi Beverly has developed mouse models of leukemia as a graduate student with Dr. Anthony Capobianco (at the University of Cincinnati and the Wistar Institute) and is highly skilled in the growth and analysis of hematopoietic cells;he will be leading the project described in Section 2.A. Dr. Arun Unni did his graduate work on innate immunity with Dr. Ruslan Medzhitov at Yale, has intimate knowledge of the B cell lineage, and will have primary responsibility for the experiments outlined in Section 2.B. Dr. Nancy Du received her Ph.D. with Dr. Bruce Stillman at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory for studies of a multifunctional yeast protein;during her post-doctoral work here, she has studied several aspects of pancreatic carcinogenesis, in part with support from our current MMHCC award, and she built and will continue to study the new mouse models that are described in Section 2. C.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Cancer Institute (NCI)
Type
Research Project--Cooperative Agreements (U01)
Project #
7U01CA105492-10
Application #
8540973
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (ZCA1-SRLB-Q (M1))
Program Officer
Marks, Cheryl L
Project Start
2004-09-16
Project End
2014-07-31
Budget Start
2013-08-01
Budget End
2014-07-31
Support Year
10
Fiscal Year
2013
Total Cost
$664,043
Indirect Cost
$248,192
Name
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center
Department
Type
DUNS #
078200995
City
Seattle
State
WA
Country
United States
Zip Code
98109
Van der Meulen, Joni; Sanghvi, Viraj; Mavrakis, Konstantinos et al. (2015) The H3K27me3 demethylase UTX is a gender-specific tumor suppressor in T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Blood 125:13-21
Mets, E; Van der Meulen, J; Van Peer, G et al. (2015) MicroRNA-193b-3p acts as a tumor suppressor by targeting the MYB oncogene in T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Leukemia 29:798-806
Pietras, Alexander; Katz, Amanda M; Ekström, Elin J et al. (2014) Osteopontin-CD44 signaling in the glioma perivascular niche enhances cancer stem cell phenotypes and promotes aggressive tumor growth. Cell Stem Cell 14:357-69
Mets, Evelien; Van Peer, Gert; Van der Meulen, Joni et al. (2014) MicroRNA-128-3p is a novel oncomiR targeting PHF6 in T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Haematologica 99:1326-33
Squatrito, Massimo; Vanoli, Fabio; Schultz, Nikolaus et al. (2012) 53BP1 is a haploinsufficient tumor suppressor and protects cells from radiation response in glioma. Cancer Res 72:5250-60
Helmy, Karim; Halliday, John; Fomchenko, Elena et al. (2012) Identification of global alteration of translational regulation in glioma in vivo. PLoS One 7:e46965
Squatrito, Massimo; Brennan, Cameron W; Helmy, Karim et al. (2010) Loss of ATM/Chk2/p53 pathway components accelerates tumor development and contributes to radiation resistance in gliomas. Cancer Cell 18:619-29
Reddy, Jay P; Peddibhotla, Sirisha; Bu, Wen et al. (2010) Defining the ATM-mediated barrier to tumorigenesis in somatic mammary cells following ErbB2 activation. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 107:3728-33
Du, Yi-Chieh Nancy; Klimstra, David S; Varmus, Harold (2009) Activation of PyMT in beta cells induces irreversible hyperplasia, but oncogene-dependent acinar cell carcinomas when activated in pancreatic progenitors. PLoS One 4:e6932
Charles, Nikki; Holland, Eric C (2009) Brain tumor treatment increases the number of cancer stem-like cells. Expert Rev Neurother 9:1447-9

Showing the most recent 10 out of 13 publications