DF/HCC Program Affiliation

Gastrointestinal Malignancies

Research Abstract

The principal focus of our research is the molecular mechanisms underlying the initiation, progression, and maintenance of pancreatic cancer, specifically the contribution of developmental genes. During development, the identity and patterning of the vertebrate foregut endoderm into specific organs such as the stomach, duodenum and pancreas depend on signals between the endoderm and mesoderm. Cancer cells subvert these signaling and developmental pathways to alter phenotype or proliferative cues. Projects currently under way in our laboratory include investigations into the role of Sonic hedgehog (Shh) in the initiation of pancreatic cancer; the role of Shh in the maintenance of human pancreatic cancer; the link between inflammatory states such as pancreatitis and pancreatic cancer formation, and the role of Shh in this link; and a lineage analysis of pancreatic cancer, in which we seek to identify the progenitor cells for pancreatic adenocarcinoma.

Publications

• Thayer SP, di Magliano MP, Heiser PW, Nielsen CM, Roberts DJ, Lauwers GY, Qi YP, Gysin S, Fernández-del Castillo C, Yajnik V, Antoniu B, McMahon M, Warshaw AL, Hebrok M.Hedgehog is an early and late mediator of pancreatic cancer tumorigenesis.Nature 2003
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