Georgia Cancer researcher filling gap in prostate cancer treatment
“The treatment requires patients to carry mutations in their DNA repair genes, but more than 70% of patients do not carry these genes,” says Chunhong Yan, PhD.
The overall goals of the Molecular Oncology research program are to understand the fundamental cellular and molecular processes that contribute to cancer development and progression.
Normal cells have intricate molecular mechanisms that control essential phenotypes such as differentiation, cell division and movement. The molecular pathways that control these phenotypes are disrupted in cancer cells as a result of the expression of oncogenes and loss of regulatory tumor suppressor genes. These events, which are often highly specific to individual types of cancer, disrupt specific molecular pathways that result in uncontrolled cell growth and loss of normal responses to extracellular signaling cues that result in tumor development and progression.
The research interests of the program can be divided into three broad themes:
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“The treatment requires patients to carry mutations in their DNA repair genes, but more than 70% of patients do not carry these genes,” says Chunhong Yan, PhD.
"I want to help find answers to the big questions about DNA as a paleoanthropologist," says Eliana Benevides, a participant in the program.
"Funding is crucial for this type of research to be continued and for new and better treatments to be created," says Ali Arbab, MD, PhD.
“Paceline funding has given us the ability to continue this work. I am very grateful for their support and hopeful for the future of this treatment,” says Kebin Liu, PhD.