Breast Cancer Stem Cell Biology Group
The future research of the Breast Cancer Stem Cell Biology group led by Dr Dontu as Group Leader, and based at King’s College London, Section of Research Oncology, led by Professor Purushotham will take the following direction:
-
Prevention and early detection.
-
Development of new anti-cancer treatments.
-
Understanding the properties that enable stem cells to circulate and grow in distant tissues (bone, brain, lung) in order to develop methods to prevent or treat metastasis.
It is possible to mark stem cells and follow their fate in various experimental systems, which will enable the screening of a large number of molecules and find those that can affect normal breast stem cells and breast cancer stem cells. The anticipated results of these studies will be:
-
A better understanding of stem cell function, both in normal tissue and in cancer, and in particular the progression from normal to malignant.
-
Identification of molecules that can expand the normal stem cell population. These are good candidates for developing methods of early detection. Inhibitors (blockers) of these molecules can be used in prevention of breast cancer.
-
Identification of natural compounds that can diminish the size of the normal stem cell population. These could also be used in cancer prevention.
-
Identification of drugs that can kill the cancer stem cell population – candidates for cancer treatment.
-
Identification of drugs that interfere with the ability of cancer stem cells to move and invade through tissue - candidates for prevention and therapy of metastatic breast cancer.
Key people
-
Dr G Dontu
-
Professor AD Purushotham
-
Dr M Cariati
-
Mr B Patel
Relevant publications
-
Ginestier C, Hur MH, Charafe-Jauffret E, Monville F, Dutcher J, Brown M, Jacquemier J, Viens P, Kleer CG, Liu S, Schott A, Hayes D, Birnbaum D, Wicha MS, Dontu G. (2007) 'ALDH1 is a marker of normal and malignant human mammary stem cells and a predictor of poor clinical outcome' in Cell Stem Cell. Nov;1(5):555-67.
-
Liu S, Ginestier C, Charafe-Jauffret E, Foco H, Kleer CG, Merajver SD, Dontu G, Wicha MS. (2008) 'BRCA1 regulates human mammary stem/progenitor cell fate' in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Online (US) Feb 5;105(5):1680-5. Epub 2008 Jan 29.
-
Cariati M, Naderi A, Brown JP, Smalley MJ, Pinder SE, Caldas C, Purushotham AD. (2008) 'Alpha-6 integrin is necessary for the tumourigenicity of a stem cell-like subpopulation within the MCF7 breast cancer cell line' in International Journal of Cancer Jan 15;122(2):298-304.
Contact details
Claire Arnold
Email: claire.arnold@kcl.ac.uk