DF/HCC Program Affiliation

Member, Cancer Cell Biology Program

Research Abstract

The research in the Molecular Diagnostics Laboratory has, until recently, been exclusively focused on molecular analyses of cancer predisposition genes and the utility of those diagnostic tests. Studies on the p53 gene in Li-Fraumeni syndrome, MSH2 and MLH1 in hereditary nonpolyposis colorectal cancer, BRCA1 and BRCA2 in inherited breast and ovarian cancer as well as RB1 in retinoblastoma have been carried out in the laboratory. Since the specimen processing, data management, robotics and high throughput sequencing and genotyping developed for research on the cancer predisposition genes can be applied to many other sorts of molecular genetic analyses, the laboratory is now involved in additional areas of inquiry. Examples of current projects include a robotically-assisted screen for tumor-specific homozygous deletions, DNA sequencing of SAGE libraries to examine gene expression in breast cancer cells, quantitative PCR in the context of gene therapy and a population-based study of BRCA 1 mutations in breast cancer patients. It is anticipated that projects within other areas of cancer research, which may benefit from the laboratory's technology and expertise, will be undertaken in the future.

Publications

• George RE, Attiyeh EF, Li S, Moreau LA, Neuberg D, Li C, Fox EA, Meyerson M, Diller L, Fortina P, Look AT, Maris JM. Genome-Wide Analysis of Neuroblastomas using High-Density Single Nucleotide Polymorphism Arrays. PLoS ONE 2007; 2:e255
  PMID: 17327916
• Carroll JS, Liu XS, Brodsky AS, Li W, Meyer CA, Szary AJ, Eeckhoute J, Shao W, Hestermann EV, Geistlinger TR, Fox EA, Silver PA, Brown M. Chromosome-wide mapping of estrogen receptor binding reveals long-range regulation requiring the forkhead protein FoxA1. Cell 2005 Jul 15; 122(1):33-43
  PMID: 16009131
• Ferrando AA, Herblot S, Palomero T, Hansen M, Hoang T, Fox EA, Look AT. Ferrando A.A., Herblot, S., Palomero, T., Hansen, M., Hoang, T., Fox, E.A. and Look, A.T. Biallelic transcriptional activation of oncogenic transcription factors in T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Blood 2004; 103:1909-1911
  PMID: 0
• Ferrando AA, Herblot S, Palomero T, Hansen M, Hoang T, Fox EA, Look AT. Ferrando A.A., Herblot, S., Palomero, T., Hansen, M., Hoang, T., Fox, E.A. and Look, A.T. Biallelic transcriptional activation of oncogenic transcription factors in T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Blood 2004; 103:1909-1911
  PMID: 0
• Armstrong SA, Mabon ME, Silverman LB, Li A, Gribben JG, Fox EA, Sallan SE, Korsmeyer SJ. FLT3 mutations in childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Blood 2003 Dec 11;
  PMID: 14670924
• Howlett NG, Taniguchi T, Olson S, Cox B, Waisfisz Q, De Die-Smulders C, Persky N, Grompe M, Joenje H, Pals G, Ikeda H, Fox EA, D'Andrea AD. Biallelic inactivation of BRCA2 in Fanconi anemia. Science 2002 Jul 26; 297(5581):606-9
  PMID: 12065746
• Syngal S, Fox EA, Li C, Dovidio M, Eng C, Kolodner RD, Garber JE. Interpretation of genetic test results for hereditary nonpolyposis colorectal cancer: implications for clinical predisposition testing. JAMA 1999 Jul 21; 282(3):247-53
  PMID: 10422993