Overview
Topic status: We're looking for students to study this topic.
Hypothesis: Altered expression of FGF signalling molecules in prostate CAFs is responsible for aspects of increased tumorigenicity observed in prostate cancer cells.
The tumour microenvironment or "stroma" plays a very important role in tumour progression. One of the most important cells in the stroma are cancer associated fibroblasts (CAFs). Tumour cells produce proteins, which can alter gene expression and behavior of the CAFs, which in turn, modulate the tumorigenicity of the cancer cells.
The focus of my laboratory has been on the family of fibroblast growth factor (FGF) ligands and receptors and how their deregulation in tumour cells is associated with tumour progression. These proteins play a major role in bidirectional communication between epithelial and mesenchymal cells during development and so it stands to reason they may play a major role in communication between CAFs (mesenchymal origin) and tumour cells (epithelial origin) during tumorigenesis.
This project is in collaboration with Dr Gail Risbridger at the Monash Institute of Medical research. We will quantify the expression differences of 18 different FGF ligands and 7 different FGF Receptor (FGFR) isoforms by qRTPCR in matched CAFs as well as normal prostate and prostate cancer cell lines and perform functional validation studies in vitro.
- Study level
- Honours
- Supervisors
- QUT
- Organisational unit
Science and Engineering Faculty
- Research area
- Contact
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Please contact the supervisors.
Dr Pamela Pollock
Professor Judith Clements
