Cancer Biology Research Program

癌症生物学计划：项目总结 弗吉尼亚联邦大学梅西癌症中心(MCC)推出了一项新的癌症生物学 (CB)2020年计划，纳入前癌症细胞部分成员的优势和专业知识 信号与癌症分子遗传学项目。这次重组的目标是建立一个更多的 在MCC的跨学科环境中，具有凝聚力的、以癌症为中心的基础研究计划将 加强协作互动，增加传播新科学概念的机会。这些概念 可以通过与发展治疗公司的成员进行基于团队的翻译来进一步利用 (DT)或癌症预防和控制(CPC)计划。CB计划成员精心制作了一项重要的科学 通过2021-2025年中冶战略规划的支柱目标，指导他们的努力向前--实现开创性 通过解开肿瘤发生的机制范式并剖析 肿瘤及其间质或免疫微环境。CB计划是在三个具体目标下组织的 专注于癌细胞信号、遗传和表观遗传驱动因素以及肿瘤微环境。CB计划 成员进行创新研究，以了解癌症生物学的复杂方面，并进行合作 与DT和CPC成员一起开发针对特定目标的创新预防、诊断和治疗工具 癌症，特别是在MCC集水区负担最重的癌症。最近，CB计划 采取主动行动，与社区外联和参与办公室建立正式合作 确保其成员充分了解MCC集水区癌症负担的鲜明特点 因此，他们可以最大限度地利用他们的科学来应对这一负担，并让社区参与CB计划 科学在向前发展。在VCU的六所学校/学院拥有47名成员，CB计划也培养了 为吸引和指导日益多样化的早期癌症患者提供丰富的智力环境 生物学家。CB计划成员目前持有780万美元的年度、直接、同行评审资金(NCI提供310万美元； 来自其他NIH研究所的330万美元；来自其他机构的140万美元)。自2016年以来，CB计划的成员 在433篇与项目相关和以癌症为重点的研究文章中发表了他们的发现。展示了 计划的协作性，141份(33%)是计划内出版物，132份(30%)是计划间出版物 方案，266个(61%)是机构间的。在CB做出的许多科学贡献中 自2016年以来，一些值得注意的成员包括：1)定义了两种癌蛋白，AEG-1和SND1在 肝细胞癌；2)在癌症恶病质中发现新的激活素/Twist1轴 治疗操作；3)确定PDZ1i是一种有效的抗转移药物；4)解开 鞘氨醇激酶1抑制三阴性乳腺癌生长和抑制化疗诱导的作用 外周神经病；以及5)解释基于小鼠的转录切割人类信号的相关性 去除Treg细胞后的肿瘤相关巨噬细胞，增加了人类乳腺癌的存活率。

CANCER BIOLOGY PROGRAM: PROJECT SUMMARY The Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) Massey Cancer Center (MCC) launched a new Cancer Biology (CB) Program in 2020, incorporating the strengths and expertise of select members from the former Cancer Cell Signaling and Cancer Molecular Genetics Programs. The objective of this restructuring was to build a more cohesive, cancer-centric, basic research program within MCC’s transdisciplinary environment that would enhance collaborative interactions and increase opportunities to seed new scientific concepts. These concepts could be further leveraged through team-based translation with members of the Developmental Therapeutics (DT) or Cancer Prevention and Control (CPC) Programs. CB Program members crafted an overarching scientific pillar goal through the 2021-2025 MCC Strategic Plan to guide their efforts forward – to achieve groundbreaking discoveries through unraveling mechanistic paradigms of tumorigenesis and dissecting key interactions between tumors and their stromal or immune microenvironment. The CB Program is organized under three specific aims focusing on cancer cell signaling, genetic and epigenetic drivers, and tumor microenvironment. CB Program members perform innovative research to understand the complex facets of cancer biology and in collaboration with DT and CPC members develop innovative preventative, diagnostic, and therapeutic tools to target specific cancers, especially those with the highest burden in MCC’s catchment area. Recently, the CB Program undertook initiatives to establish formal collaborations with the Office of Community Outreach and Engagement to ensure its members are fully aware of the distinct characteristics of the cancer burden in MCC’s catchment area so that they can best align their science to address this burden and engage the community in CB Program science going forward. With 47 members across six VCU Schools/Colleges, the CB Program has also cultivated a rich intellectual environment for attracting and mentoring an increasingly diverse pipeline of early-stage cancer biologists. CB Program members currently hold $7.8M in annual, direct, peer-reviewed funding ($3.1M from NCI; $3.3M from other NIH institutes; $1.4M from other agencies). Since 2016, members of the CB Program have published their discoveries in 433 program-relevant and cancer-focused research articles. Demonstrating the program’s collaborative nature, 141 (33%) publications were intra-programmatic, 132 (30%) were inter- programmatic, and 266 (61%) were inter-institutional. Among the many scientific contributions made by CB members since 2016, a few noteworthy include 1) defining the roles of two oncoproteins, AEG-1 and SND1, in hepatocellular carcinoma; 2) discovering a novel Activin/Twist1 axis in cancer cachexia that is amenable to therapeutic manipulation; 3) identifying PDZ1i as a potent anti-metastatic drug; 4) unraveling the ability of sphingosine kinase 1 to inhibit triple-negative breast cancer growth and to suppress chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy; and 5) explicating the correlation of transcriptomic human signatures, based on murine tumor-associated macrophages after ablation of Treg cells, with increased survival in human breast cancer.