ThoughtGallery.org > Giornate della Scienza: Precision Medicine for Brain Tumors

Giornate della Scienza: Precision Medicine for Brain Tumors

Dr. Anna Lasorella, MD, Professor of Pathology and Cell Biology and Pediatrics, and Dr. Antonio Iavarone, MD, Professor of Pathology and Cell Biology and Neurology, both in the Institute for Cancer Genetics at CUMC, present the latest results of their ongoing research on cancer. Focusing on cancer as a genetic disease, they recognized that the reconstruction of transcriptional networks should be integrated with the development of systems approaches aimed at identifying novel cancer‐driving genetic alterations. The availability of massively parallel sequencing technologies has revolutionized the field of cancer genetics: by analyzing the whole transcriptome of human glioblastoma, their lab recently discovered that a subgroup of GBM patients is defined by the presence of gene fusions of FGFR and TACC genes in their tumors. The study on the mechanism of oncogenic transformation by FGFR‐TACC fusion proteins, recently published in the Nature International Journal of Science, “offers the first clues as to how cancer genes activate mitochondrial metabolism, a crucial and longstanding question in cancer research, and provides the first direct evidence that peroxisomes are
involved in cancer,” as team co-leader Anna Lasorella pointed out. “This gives scientists new insights into how we may be able to disrupt cancer’s fuel supply.”

Their previous research on glioblastoma (an aggressive and not so rare form of primary cancer affecting the brain) had already identified the genes whose alterations are at the origin of the disease, getting fortieth place in the magazine Discover ranking of the
hundred most significant events for science in 2012.

Their current discovery, described with a metaphor as a study of the “motor of tumors”, opens the way for testing specific therapies aimed at blocking the development of tumors affecting not only the brain but also other organs. By providing the first example of an oncogenic and recurrent gene fusion in human glioblastoma, their work leads research towards the goal of personalized cancer translation.











When: Thu., Apr. 19, 2018 at 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm
Where: Italian Cultural Institute
686 Park Ave.
212-879-4242
Price: Free
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Dr. Anna Lasorella, MD, Professor of Pathology and Cell Biology and Pediatrics, and Dr. Antonio Iavarone, MD, Professor of Pathology and Cell Biology and Neurology, both in the Institute for Cancer Genetics at CUMC, present the latest results of their ongoing research on cancer. Focusing on cancer as a genetic disease, they recognized that the reconstruction of transcriptional networks should be integrated with the development of systems approaches aimed at identifying novel cancer‐driving genetic alterations. The availability of massively parallel sequencing technologies has revolutionized the field of cancer genetics: by analyzing the whole transcriptome of human glioblastoma, their lab recently discovered that a subgroup of GBM patients is defined by the presence of gene fusions of FGFR and TACC genes in their tumors. The study on the mechanism of oncogenic transformation by FGFR‐TACC fusion proteins, recently published in the Nature International Journal of Science, “offers the first clues as to how cancer genes activate mitochondrial metabolism, a crucial and longstanding question in cancer research, and provides the first direct evidence that peroxisomes are
involved in cancer,” as team co-leader Anna Lasorella pointed out. “This gives scientists new insights into how we may be able to disrupt cancer’s fuel supply.”

Their previous research on glioblastoma (an aggressive and not so rare form of primary cancer affecting the brain) had already identified the genes whose alterations are at the origin of the disease, getting fortieth place in the magazine Discover ranking of the
hundred most significant events for science in 2012.

Their current discovery, described with a metaphor as a study of the “motor of tumors”, opens the way for testing specific therapies aimed at blocking the development of tumors affecting not only the brain but also other organs. By providing the first example of an oncogenic and recurrent gene fusion in human glioblastoma, their work leads research towards the goal of personalized cancer translation.

Buy tickets/get more info now