Identification and Characterisation of Molecular Mediators of Cancer Metastasis

Project Details

Cancer accounts for 1/3 of all Australian deaths and is a major social and economic burden. The prime feature of treatment failure as well as the cause of majority of death in cancer patients is due to the spread of the cancer to other sites within the body, a process termed metastasis. Major sites of metastasis include bone, brain, lungs,kidney and liver and although metastasis is a major clinical problem, still much is to be learned regarding the molecular drivers of metastasis and the translation of this knowledge to the generation of effective anti-metastatic cancer therapeutics.

To address this, we have used a number of isogenic cancer cell lines with differing levels of metastatic potential and using gene expression analysis we have identified a number of putative molecular mediators of metastasis and therefore potential therapeutic targets of metastasis. This project will utilise a wide-array of molecular, cellular, and biochemical approaches as well as the use of in vivo metastatic models, to examine the role of these molecules in important cell biological features of the metastatic cancer cell such as seeding, survival, proliferation, migration, invasion and intracellular signalling pathways.

Moreover, this project will also seek to identify and test inhibitory compounds towards these putative ‘drivers of metastasis’ to provide the basis for the development of novel anti-metastatic therapeutics. It is expected that this project will contribute to the identification of novel drivers of metastasis as well as leading to the isolation of new anti-metastatic therapeutics. It will also provide the successful candidate with intensive training in the areas of cancer cell biology, molecular biology, cell signalling, protein biochemistry and experimental in vivo metastatic cancer models.