Contact: Will Sansom, (210) 567-2579
SAN ANTONIO (July 3, 2008) — The Cancer Therapy & Research Center (CTRC) at the UT Health Science Center San Antonio held its first Cancer Development and Progression Program Retreat May 9 at the AT&T Teleconference Center on the Texas Research Park Campus. The topic was “Cancer and Stem Cells.”
Of the six lecturers, three were from the UT Health Science Center San Antonio, while the others represented MIT/Harvard, the UT Health Science Center Houston and the Stowers Institute for Medical Research in Kansas City, Mo.
A recap of the UT Health Science Center San Antonio research presentations follows.
CBP protein, stem cells and cancerVivienne Rebel, M.D., Ph.D., principal investigator at the Greehey Children’s Cancer Research Institute and assistant professor in the Department of Cellular and Structural Biology, presented mouse studies that link stem cell defects to abnormal bone marrow function.
According to Dr. Rebel’s studies, mice with diminished ability to make a protein called CBP have more cells than usual in their bone marrow but fewer than the usual number of stem cells. Loss of the CBP protein is linked to leukemias, lung, ovarian and esophageal cancers. The CBP-deficient mice are also less able to make new blood cells as they age, Dr. Rebel said.
COBRA1 protein and breast tumorsRong Li, Ph.D., from the Department of Molecular Medicine at the Institute of Biotechnology, discussed the role of a breast cancer susceptibility protein, COBRA1, in mammary gland development and cancer formation.
COBRA1 is important in the development of luminal epithelial cells, a layer of cells in breast tissue. Mice with diminished COBRA1 gene expression have significantly fewer of these cells. It may be that stem cell errors related to COBRA1 play a role in this depletion of the luminal epithelial cells.
Dr. Li said reduced COBRA1 gene expression is associated with metastatic breast cancer.
Side-population cellsJaclyn Hung, Ph.D., who conducts research at the Greehey CCRI and is an assistant professor in the Department of Pediatrics, discussed her studies of “side-population” cells, which she said are a group of drug-resistant cells involved in lung and other cancers.
Side-population tumor cells, which possess properties of stem cells such as the ability to sustain themselves, spur the development of large, vascular tumors when injected into human lung cancer cells in the laboratory, Dr. Hung said. In the studies, side-population cells significantly promoted tumor growth. For example, in one lung cancer cell line, side-population cells increased the number of tumor cells by about 50-fold, Dr. Hung said.
Retreat organizers were Peter Hornsby, Ph.D.; Z. Dave Sharp, Ph.D.; Drs. Li, Rebel and Hung; and John McCarrey, Ph.D.
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