Talk
| Name: | Prof. Dr. Serge Haan |
| Head of the Molecular Disease Mechanisms Group, Life Sciences Research Unit, University of Luxembourg | |
| Homepage (external link) | |
| Date/Location: | Thursday, 09.02.2015 17:00 Building 28 / Pfälzer Platz, Room 027 |
| Title: | The Jak/STAT/SOCS pathway in gastrointestinal malignancies |
Abstract: The Jak/STAT/SOCS pathway in gastrointestinal malignancies
Although the exact disease mechanisms are often not completely understood, the importance of Janus kinases, STAT factors and SOCS proteins in pathological processes is well established. In recent years, we were interested in the role of the Jak/STAT/SOCS signalling pathway in gastrointestinal diseases. One of our projects dealt with the potential role of SOCS proteins in colon cancer. By combining a meta-analysis with analyses of our own patient cohort we could identify SOCS2 and SOCS6 as potential biomarkers for colon cancer. Furthermore, we are interested in signalling mechanism initiated by mutated PDGFRa proteins. We are primarily interested in mutations occurring in the context of gastrointestinal stromal tumours (GIST) but we also extended our study to include an oncogenic fusion protein called FIP1L1-PDGFRa, which was identified in patients with chronic eosinophilic leukaemia. We found that the oncogenic mutants display skewed signalling properties if compared to the wild-type receptor. The observed unconventional signalling pattern includes the activation of STAT factors via a non-canonical activation mechanism.
Interested guests are welcome!