Grant: Doctoral Award - Frederick Banting and Charles Best Canada Graduate Scholarships

Basal cell carcinoma (BCC) is a type of skin cancer, which is the most common form of cancer worldwide. The damage from the tumors is significant because of their aggressive growth on the face and the body. Surgery to remove the tumors is by far is the most efficient cure. However, surgery is expensive and can leave extensive skin scarring. Experimental drug treatments have been invented, but they cause significant adverse effects in clinical trial patients. As such, research into the mechanisms of BCC growth and development of new treatments are important. My previous data revealed that high levels of a group of chemicals called chemokines CXCL9, 10, and 11 were present in BCCs from patients. Several research laboratories have reported difficulties in growing BCC cells in culture to use in research. I have recently developed a protocol to isolate and culture cells from human BCC tumor tissues. The cells only survive and grow when they are cultured in a modified growth medium supplemented with chemokine CXCL11. I hypothesize that blocking the tumor growth promoting action of these chemokines will stop BCC cancers from growing. My proposed research will identify the functional properties of these chemokines and their impact on the development of BCCs. I will perform experiments on tissue samples from BCC patients, human BCC tumor-derived cells, and cancer models. My results may show that these chemokines significantly help BCCs grow, and that inhibition of the chemical signals stops BCC development. Also, the technique of human BCC cell culture I have developed should be useful to other research groups to conduct their own studies of the disease. Such research may suggest that the development of drug treatments to block the activities of these chemokine signals could be used to cause BCC tumors to regress. Such a strategy may be an alternative to surgery and may lead to a new and more effective cure against BCC cancer.