Basic Research Support for the CCR

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

The Basic Research Program (BRP) provides scientific and technical expertise to NCI's Center for Cancer Research (CCR) in areas ranging from cancer and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), to the basic cellular processes underlying cancer, infectious diseases, and autoimmune disorders. Research topics supported by the BRP include: -Investigating ways in which novel, molecularly targeted cancer therapies can be used alone or in combination with immunotherapy in various tumor models (Molecular Immunotherapy Section, Cancer and Inflammation Program). -Understanding the genetic basis for resistance or susceptibility to disease conferred by human leukocyte antigen (HLA) class I and class II genes, which have a central role in the innate immune response (HLA Immunogenetics Section, Cancer and Inflammation Program). -Investigating the role of cytokines such as interleukin-7 (IL-7) in the development of T lymphocyte and natural killer (NK) cell lineages and their role in promoting cell survival, terminal differentiation, and apoptotic cell death (Immunological Cytokine Research Section, Cancer and Inflammation Program). -Examining the role of dendritic cells, other innate or adaptive effector cell types, and proinflammatory or immunoregulatory cytokines on carcinogenesis and cancer therapy (Cancer Immunobiology Section, Cancer and Inflammation Program). -Identifying and defining the molecular events that regulate lineage commitment and terminal differentiation of hemotopoietic stem cells (Hematopoiesis and Stem Cell Biology Section, Laboratory of Cancer Prevention). -Defining the cell surface markers, metastasis ability, and pathways for growth and self-renewal, of cancer stem cells from prostate, breast, glioma, and renal cell carcinomas (Cancer Stem Cell Section, Laboratory of Cancer Prevention). -Studying the role that epigenetic regulation plays in cellular differentiation, embryonic development, and tumorigenesis (Epigenetics Group, Laboratory of Cancer Prevention). -Understanding the structure and function of glycosyltransferases and developing novel glycosyltransferases for targeted drug delivery and contrast agents for medical imaging (Structural Glycobiology Section, CCR Nanobiology Program). -Developing highly efficient, state-of-the-art algorithms to discover the structural patterns of proteins and predict molecular associations (i.e., protein-protein interactions) in support of nanodesign for cancer diagnosis, therapy, and prevention (Computational Structural Biology Group, CCR Nanobiology Program). -Support in bioassay development and screening, natural products chemistry, protein chemistry, molecular biology, and high-content cellular imaging to facilitate multidisciplinary, molecular targets discovery research (Molecular Targets Laboratory). -Basic and applied chemistry support for studies characterizing the reactions of the bioregulatory agent nitric oxide (NO) with organic compounds (Chemistry Section, Chemical Biology Laboratory). -Discovery and characterization of renal carcinoma susceptibility genes (Urologic Oncology Research Group, Urologic Oncology Branch).