The Impact of Somatic Hematopoietic Mutations on Melanoma Tumorigenesis
Abstract
This application is relevant to the ?Melanoma and other skin cancers? within the Fiscal Year 2016 Peer Reviewed Cancer Research Program topics areas. In addition, this application is addressing the militarily relevant risk factors of ionizing radiation, chemicals, and environmental carcinogens, which are all known to accelerate acquisition of genetic changes (or genetic mutations) in human cells. Health risks of military activities, such as ionizing radiation, carcinogens, and UV (ultraviolet), will lead to genetic mutations in cells of various tissues. While the increase in genetic mutations has been well appreciated to underlie cancer risks of a given tissue type, it is generally assumed that genetic mutations in two different tissues do not influence one another in cancer development. This application seeks to challenge this assumption and test a new paradigm in cancer biology that common mutations in blood cells can impact solid cancer development. We will specifically focus on melanoma, a deadly cancer type. In the short term, success from this application will establish a novel path by which melanoma development is controlled. As such, patients suffering from melanoma can benefit from the findings from this study. In the long term (3-5 years), such knowledge can likely lead to new opportunities to develop therapies that can interfere with this new path to melanoma. In addition, we expect that this new cancer theory can be examined and applied in other solid cancer types, thus leading to a wider impact of this research. Overall, success from this application will establish a new frontier in cancer research and significantly advance our knowledge on how solid cancers develop and progress. Given that the novel cancer theory tested in this application can lead to better understanding of new factors regulating cancer development, the knowledge obtained in this application will benefit active duty Service members, their families, Veterans, and other military beneficiaries.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Aug 07, 2017
- Source ID
- W81XWH1710306
Entities
People
- Jun Lü
Organizations
- United States Army
- Yale University