Role of Snail family proteins in male fertility and testicular cancer

男性生育力需要在睾丸中产生健康的精子。该项目的基础是我们的发现，即睾丸细胞在精子发育过程中通过Snail蛋白家族调节基因活性，并且其活动的中断会降低小鼠和果蝇的生育能力。蜗牛蛋白在癌细胞中也很活跃。我们建议研究受蜗牛蛋白影响的精子产生的精确步骤，以及它们如何影响睾丸癌的进展。

Male fertility requires production of healthy sperm in the testis. This project builds on our discoveries that testicular cells regulate gene activity via the Snail family of proteins during sperm development, and that interruption of their activities reduces fertility in mice and fruitflies. Snail proteins are also active in cancer cells. We propose to study the precise steps in sperm production affected by Snail proteins and how they affect the progression of testicular cancer.