Colon and Lung Cancer
Colon and lung cancers are among the most common malignancies. We are identifying new epigenetic biomarkers of prognosis and therapeutic responsiveness, in order to improve the clinical management of cancer. This work involves three main approaches (1) study of cancer specimens from patients (2) analysis of cancer cells grown in cell culture and (3) study of tumours in the mouse.
Our research in colon cancer is focused on understanding how and why cancer develops and how it should be best treated. We have made the unexpected discovery that an arthritis drug sulindac used in humans can actually cause cancer in the mouse. Paradoxically, sulindac – as well as other NSAIDs – is known for its anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer properties. NSAIDs can be prescribed to individuals who have inherited high-risk cancer susceptibility genes, to prevent colon tumours. However, we have shown that sulindac has opposite effects in different parts of the mouse colon – it prevents cancer in the distal colon but is carcinogenic in the proximal colon. Interestingly some mouse strains are particularly susceptible to develop this severe side effect of sulindac, and we are now investigating which genes are responsible for the increased susceptibility.
Another major area of recent work involves the rediscovery of ‘Mutated in Colorectal Cancer’ (MCC) as a candidate tumour suppressor gene. MCC is emerging as a multifunctional protein that regulates several cellular processes and pathways. We have shown that MCC expression is silenced in up to 50% of colon cancers and have identified new biological functions for this protein, including a role in the DNA damage response and lamellipodia formation. We are now pursuing these functions further in laboratory experiments and our newly engineered MCC knockout mouse.
Staff
 Senior Research OfficerDr Laurent Pangon |
 Research AssistantNicola Currey |
 Research OfficerDr Dessislava Mladenova read Dessi's "this week in the lab" |
 Research AssistantChrista Van Kralingen |
| Visiting/Honorary Researchers Sam Al-Sohaily Janindra Warusavitarne Tina Selinger Wendy Cooper Po Yee Yip |
 Research AssistantLauren Watkins |
