---

Oncogenic Signalling

The successful work of the research groups focusing on oncogenic signaling has been based on a longstanding interaction of local groups with diverse interests in protein degradation processes (I. Dikic), STAT signaling (B. Groner), oncogenic signaling in leukemia (R. Marschalek, H. Serve), key regulatory kinases of the cell cycle, tumor cell survival and treatment resistance. The groups involved in this area of work have been instrumental in our understanding of receptor signal termination (I. Dikic), the role of tyrosine kinase receptors in Acute Leukemias (H. Serve), and in the development of truly innovative tools to analyze the phenotypic consequences of genes in vivo (H. von Melchner), just to name a few.

UCT Groups involved:

• I. Dikic: Ubiquitin and cancer
• B. Groner: Signal Transduction in Tumor cells
• R. Marschalek: Macromolecular complexes in Acute Leukemia
• H. von Melchner: Functional genomics, mouse models of cancer
• H. Serve: Oncogenic kinase signaling in hematologic malignancies
• K. Strebhardt: Targeting cell cycle kinases in cancer therapy

The Tumor in its microenvironment

As it is now widely accepted, cancer sites consist of a wide array of specialized cells. The malignant clone is diversified into different cell classes that differ in their ability to reconstitute a malignant manifestation with only a minority of cells that retain this ability. Also, vascular and lymphatic endothelial cells, fibroblasts, pericytes, and inflammatory cells are very likely to play an important role in tumor initiation, progression and maintenance, especially after cytotoxic therapy. It is fair to say that Frankfurt offers a unique environment to study the complexity of this multicellular system. For example, seminal work has been performed on the regulation of endothelial progenitor cells that constitute the vascular niche for cancer stem cells (S.Dimmeler), on tumor angiogenesis in brain tumors (K.H. Plate) and on the role of Hepatitis B virus in hepatic transformation (S. Zeuzem).

UCT Groups involved:

• S. Dimmeler: Stem cells
• J. Gille: Endothelial Cell Biology, Angiogenesis, Skin Cancer
• E. Jäger: Tumor Immunology
• K. H. Plate: Neurooncology, Tumor Angiogenesis, Tumor-host interactions
• S. Zeuzem: Viral Liver Carcinogenesis

Erstellt von: A. Hellenbrecht, erstellt am: 17.11.2008, zuletzt geändert: 01.10.2010