Investigating the tumour-suppressive function of Fgfr2b in the skin

转基因小鼠已被用于识别皮肤细胞中的一种蛋白质，这种蛋白质可以保护它们免受癌症的侵袭。通过研究这种蛋白质如何保护这些细胞，我们的目标是了解它在人类皮肤癌中可能发挥的作用。成纤维细胞生长因子（Fgfs）在生物学中起着重要作用，影响细胞在机体发育、维护和修复过程中的行为。它们通过与特定受体结合而起作用，其中Fgfr2b是具有这种保护作用的蛋白质。皮肤细胞中缺乏Fgfr2b的小鼠非常容易患皮肤癌，本项目的目的是确定为什么这些细胞如此容易发展成肿瘤。除了与癌症研究相关外，Fgfr2b还与发育异常有关，因此除了解决基本生物学兴趣的问题外，我们的研究还将解决临床上重要的问题。新的药物可能被设计来刺激这些受体的有益作用，并对人类癌症的发展产生影响。博士研究员和一名博士生，我们都对FGF生物学的各个方面感兴趣。该项目资助将资助一名博士后研究员，他将能够花三年时间使用我们的皮肤癌小鼠模型，以及细胞培养方法，剖析Fgfr2b保护细胞免于癌变的机制。

Genetically modified mice have been used to identify a protein in skin cells that protects them from developing cancer. By investigating how this protein protects these cells, we aim to understand what role it might have in human skin cancer. Fibroblast growth factors (Fgfs) play fundamental roles in biology, influencing how cells behave during development, maintenance and repair of the body. They act by binding to specific receptors, one of which, Fgfr2b, is the protein that has this protective role.Mice lacking Fgfr2b in their skin cells are very susceptible to skin cancer and the aim of this project is to identify why such cells are so prone to developing into tumours. As well as being relevant to cancer research, Fgfr2b is also implicated in developmental abnormalities, thus in addition to addressing questions of fundamental biological interest, our research will address clinically significant problems.Hopefully, as a result of these studies, new drugs might be designed to stimulate the beneficial actions of these receptors and to have an impact on cancer development in man. My group consists of one post-doctoral fellow and one PhD student, and we are all interested in various aspects of Fgf biology. This project grant would fund an additional post-doctoral fellow who would be able to spend three years using our mouse model of skin cancer, together with cell culture approaches, to dissect out the mechanisms by which Fgfr2b protects cells from becoming cancerous.