Institute seminar March 17th 10.30 Lars O. Baumbusch
The institute seminar on Wednesday March 17th is given by Lars O. Baumbusch from the Department of Genetics. Title of his talk:
Molecular signatures of disseminated tumor cells in breast cancer
The seminar takes place in the Auditorium (New Research Building Montebello) and starts at 10:30.
Abstract
The critical step in cancer progression is the establishment of metastasis to distant organs. It has been demonstrated that the presence of circulating tumor cells (CTC) in peripheral blood and disseminated tumor cells (DTC) in the bone marrow is an independent prognostic factor for less favourable clinical outcome. However, we still lack knowledge of the genomic characteristics of DTC and how to target these cells. A reason for this limitation has been a deficiency of procedures allowing high-resolution analyses of CTC/DTC, including DNA-copy number changes. Genotyping and phenotyping of occult tumor cells will provide information to better understand tumor initiation, tumor heterogeneity, and subsequent metastasis formation. Due to the implementation of a state-of-the-art technique, called single cell array comparative genomic hybridization (SCaCGH), we are finally able to perform in-depth analysis of occult circulating tumor cells on various high density array platforms. Using novel bioinformatic and biostatistical tools studied in connection with a detailed primary tumor analysis, we wish to identify biological markers and genes responsible for the capacity of cancer cells to metastasize. This may be clinically useful as evidence for an early occult spread of tumor cells, as a relevant prognostic factor, and finally, permit direct exploration of markers for targeted treatment.
The critical step in cancer progression is the establishment of metastasis to distant organs. It has been demonstrated that the presence of circulating tumor cells (CTC) in peripheral blood and disseminated tumor cells (DTC) in the bone marrow is an independent prognostic factor for less favourable clinical outcome. However, we still lack knowledge of the genomic characteristics of DTC and how to target these cells. A reason for this limitation has been a deficiency of procedures allowing high-resolution analyses of CTC/DTC, including DNA-copy number changes. Genotyping and phenotyping of occult tumor cells will provide information to better understand tumor initiation, tumor heterogeneity, and subsequent metastasis formation. Due to the implementation of a state-of-the-art technique, called single cell array comparative genomic hybridization (SCaCGH), we are finally able to perform in-depth analysis of occult circulating tumor cells on various high density array platforms. Using novel bioinformatic and biostatistical tools studied in connection with a detailed primary tumor analysis, we wish to identify biological markers and genes responsible for the capacity of cancer cells to metastasize. This may be clinically useful as evidence for an early occult spread of tumor cells, as a relevant prognostic factor, and finally, permit direct exploration of markers for targeted treatment.
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