Grant: Operating Grant

Peutz-Jeghers Syndrome (PJS) is a genetic disease that makes patients succeptible to tumour growth and cancer. These patients have a 500-fold increased risk of developing cancer in the small intestine, and also in other tissues/organs. The mutation that causes this predisposition occurs in a protein kinase-a gene product that makes an enzyme which activates and inactivates numerous other proteins. This protein, called LKB1, is particularly curious because it plays multiple, seemingly unrelated roles in the cell. We do not understand how LKB1 carries out these essential tasks, nor which ones are absolutely required to block the formation of tumours but we intend to use a simple model and modern genetic and molecular approaches to resolve this problem with the hope of finding ways to better harness this activity and block tumour growth.