Integration of Oncogenic Networks in Cancer Phenotypes

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The proposed Integrated Cancer Biology Program will combine the resources and expertise at Duke University, the Dana Farber Cancer Institute, UT Southwestern Medical Center, and the University of Southern California to focus on the development of data and computational tools to achieve an integrative and in-depth understanding of cell signaling pathways that are central to the control of cell proliferation and the oncogenic process. The work of the ICBP will focus on an integration of these oncogenic signaling pathways, representing a set of interconnected pathways including the Ras, Myc, and Rb-E2F pathway, that then also connect to the p53 response pathway. The activity of these pathways is fundamental and critical for the control of cells moving from a quiescent state, through G1 and into S phase, and that link the activity of the cellular proliferation process with the determination of cell fate. Moreover, the deregulation of these pathways is central to the development of human cancer. We aim to develop genomic-scale measures of gene expression and protein analysis to generate datasets whose analysis and interpretation will underlie the development of a comprehensive understanding of the complex regulatory networks that involves these pathways. Rather than developing a broad group of projects, we propose a highly focused program, involving a multi-disciplinary team of investigators, that will develop and apply novel methods of statistics and computation for modeling a set of highly lintegrated cellular pathways. By taking a very focused approach to these pathways, we believe we will be able to develop an in depth understanding of the activity and interaction within these pathways and use this as a paradigm for defining the tools for broader application to other aspects of cellular signaling. Importantly, we will also integrate this information in the study of human breast cancer, making use of the detailed datasets to inform predictive models of breast cancer recurrence. We believe this is a unique opportunity to bring together basic studies of oncogenic pathways with the study of human cancer in a way that will help to inform each process. These programs will also be the source of an integrated and multi-faceted training program that will serve as a training ground for young investigators at the interface of biology, genomics, and computational sciences. Finally, we will develop a web-based information management system to provide the tools for data access, utilization, and visualization of higher-order pathway and network data. The web-based system will also serve as a project management resource to link the activities of Center investigators as well as a mechanism for dissemination of data and computational tools to the scientific community.