Program 2. Molecular Pathways and Biomarkers (MPB) The abnormal function of cancer cells can be investigated through the understanding of the changes in the activation and silencing of homeostatic cell signaling events. Identification of the functional proteome characteristic of a cancer cell permits the understanding of its underlying biology and provides unique opportunities for therapeutic targeting of critical node points as well as exploitation of biomarkers for disease prevention, detection and follow-up. The primary themes of the Molecular Pathways and Biomarkers program are in three main areas and reflect a major emphasis on basic science investigations of the cancer signalosome and its exploitation for clinical translation. The MPB Program's thematic areas include (1) tumor hypoxia and angiogenesis;(2) tumor-stroma interactions and (3) development of novel imaging technology and applications.
The aims of the MPB program are: (i) to elucidate the mechanisms of the cellular signaling events that underlie angiogenesis and their targeting for therapy. (ii) To discover the key mediators of tumor-stromal interactions and identify biomarkers that predict primary tumor growth and metastasis at distant sites. (iii) To develop novel imaging applications to better detect cancer growth, help diagnose cancer type and provide more accurate tools for treatment follow-up. The MPB program is comprised of 40 core members from 15 departments within the School of Medicine. Currently there are 30 funded program core members. The total peer-reviewed funding per year of MPB is $15.23 M ($10.6 million direct), of which NCI funding represents $4.8 M ($3.3 M direct). In the P20 planning grant period of 2002-2008, MPB members published 445 articles. Intraprogrammatic collaborations accounted for 110 (24.7%) and interprogrammatic collaborations accounted for 144 (32.4%) of these publications.
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