MICA: Control of tumour cell apoptosis by nuclear F-actin bundling

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

A large number of clinical studies have identified a protein called fascin that is present at extremely high levels in a range of human cancers. Very little is known about how this protein is controlled, but we know that reducing levels in cancer cells that we grow in the lab results in reducing the ability of those cells to undergo metastatic spread. Fascin is an exciting potential target to treat metastasis, but until we know more about how it is controlled, we cannot design drugs to target its function. This project aims to study the factors that control fascin function in cells and identify how the protein responds to changes in the environment that surrounds cancer cells. One of the major gaps in current knowledge is a detailed understanding of the factors regulating cancer progression and metastasis. This project will help to identify new proteins that can lead to increased cancer cell invasion and therefore provide new possible targets for designing future treatments. We will study the structure of the protein and identify specific the places and regions within this molecule that are important for controlling different functions in cells. We will then isolate proteins that bind to these forms of fascin and characterize how this binding occurs. We will then use human cancer cells in the lab to study these newly identified proteins that are responsible for promoting the fascin function and determine how they are controlled. Finally, we will use different strategies to inhibit these associated proteins and determine how they control cancer cell behavior that may lead to promotion of metastatic disease. Ultimately this study could lead to the identification of targets for the design and development of new drugs and therapeutic agents to prevent cancer growth and spread.