MicroRNAs to Pathways in Prostate Cancer Progression

Abstract

The purpose of this Idea Development Award is to understand the molecular basis of early events in prostate cancer progression. In particular the proposal focuses on a class of non-coding RNAs called microRNAs that function to suppress large networks of genes during cell fate transitions. The proposal was based on preliminary data showing that in absence of all microRNAs, prostate tumors associated with PTEN loss fail to progress. The goal here is to determine the microRNAs and downstream-regulated pathways responsible for this striking block. In the past year, we have crossed in reporters into our models that allow us to isolate the transformed epithelial cells from the otherwise highly heterogeneous cellular context of the prostate. RNA has been produced from these cells and are being profiled for the microRNAs and mRNAs, which will then be evaluated computationally to uncover networks of microRNAmRNA interactions that normally drive progression. The significance of this work is that it will provide both markers of early progression as well as potential nodes within the networks that can be manipulated diminishing the requirement of more aggressive treatments.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Oct 01, 2013
Accession Number
ADA593132

Entities

People

  • Robert Blelloch

Organizations

  • University of California, San Francisco

Tags

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Abstracts
  • Anatomy
  • Biological Sciences
  • Biomedical Research
  • Cells
  • Chain Reactions
  • Chemical Reactions
  • Department Of Defense
  • Diseases And Disorders
  • Electronic Mail
  • Genetics
  • Mrna
  • Neoplasms
  • Prostate
  • Prostate Cancer
  • Ribonucleic Acids
  • Rna Sequence Analysis

Fields of Study

  • Biology

Readers

  • Molecular Biology and Genetics
  • Oncology and Biomarker-Based Cancer Detection.