Biological role and partners of the LIM domain protein LMO4 in breast epithelium

乳腺癌是影响女性的最常见癌症，每14人中就有1人罹患这种疾病。尽管乳腺癌的治疗在过去几年中有了很大的改善，但30%被诊断为乳腺癌的女性将死于乳腺癌。癌症研究的一个主要焦点是识别与肿瘤发展有关的基因，并确定它们在癌细胞中的确切作用。设计有效的癌症治疗抑制剂需要了解导致癌症的基因变化背后的基本分子和细胞生物学。我们研究的重点是了解驱动乳腺组织生长和分化的正常细胞机制，以及导致乳腺癌的那些变化。核调节蛋白与许多不同类型的癌症和白血病有关。我们的目标是识别乳腺组织中的关键调节因子，表征它们的结构特性和生物学作用，最终了解它们是如何将正常细胞转移到癌细胞的。

Breast cancer is the most common cancer affecting women, with 1 in 14 developing this disease. Although treatment of breast cancer has substantially improved over the last few years, 30% of women diagnosed with this cancer will die from it. One major focus of cancer research is the identification of genes involved in tumour development and definition of their precise role in cancer cells. The design of effective therapeutic inhibitors of cancer requires an understanding of the basic molecular and cellular biology behind the genetic changes thought to contribute to cancer. The focus of our research is to understand normal cellular mechanisms that drive growth and differentiation of breast tissue, and those changes that lead to breast cancer. Nuclear regulatory proteins have been implicated in many different types of cancers and leukaemias. We aim to identify the key regulators in breast tissue, characterising both their structural properties and biological roles, with the ultimate view of understanding how they divert a normal cell to a cancerous cell.