SH2 PROFILING

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This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. The subproject and investigator (PI) may have received primary funding from another NIH source, and thus could be represented in other CRISP entries. The institution listed is for the Center, which is not necessarily the institution for the investigator. There is a need for molecular diagnostic tools that will allow the classification of tumors beyond what is currently possible using standard techniques. Ideally, markers will be identified that will have prognostic value (correlate with response to particular treatments, for example). Expression profiling using cDNA microarrays is now being tested for this purpose, but is at present cumbersome, costly, and is unlikely to give any information about the molecular defects in the tumor cell. We are developing a novel molecular diagnostic technique based on the profile of proteins in a tumor sample that bind to certain protein domains known to play an important role in signal transduction. In preliminary experiments this technique can identify different binding profiles in similar tumor types, suggesting it may be a valuable molecular diagnostic tool. The resulting profiles may also be informative about the molecular defects in a particular tumor. We propose to test this technique on samples from hematopoietic malignancies available at the UConn Health Center to establish the feasibility of implementation on a larger scale. Ultimately, if the technique is sufficiently robust and reproducible, we will correlate profiling data with patient information to determine whether the interaction profiling provides information with prognostic value.