Research directions
Role of macrophage inhibitory cytokine (MIC)-1 in tumor angiogenesis.
Our laboratory has performed gene expression analyses of astrocytic brain tumors using cDNA arrays These analyses confirmed the important role of some previously known genes in glioblastoma, and yielded numerous differentially expressed genes which still need to be analyzed for their biological implications and clinical relevance Among these genes, we have identified MIC-1, which is a divergent member of the TGF-b superfamily and a p53 target. We also demonstrated that MIC-1 was up-regulated by anoxia through an alternative p53 and hypoxia-inducible factor-1 independent pathway. Ectopic expression of MIC-1 in the glioblastoma cell line LN-Z308 (p53 null) completely abolished the inherent tumorigenicity in nude mice, while proliferation in vitro was not affected. Therefore MIC-1 may inhibit tumor growth by suppressing tumor angiogenesis or by inducing apoptosis through a paracrine mechanism. We are currently trying to understand in more detail the growth inhibitory effect of MIC-1 and more specifically its potential role as an anti-angiogenic factor. For more information please click
Laboratory of Tumor Biology and Genetics
Competences
Techniques de biologie moléculaire et cellulaire
Gene Expression Profiling
Transplantation stéréotactique de cellules dans le cerveau de souris
Construction de "Tissue-arrays"
