Grant: Operating Grant

While there are many different kinds of cancer, they are all linked by a common thread: cancer cells do not know when to stop growing. In normal tissues, cells receive signals, like estrogen, from their surroundings that tell them what to do: to grow, to migrate, to die and so on. Cells pick up these signals which are then translated inside the cell into the appropriate action. In cancer cells, the signaling circuitry that controls cell growth has gone awry and the signal to grow does not get switched off. We need to know more about how this signaling circuitry works. What happens when a cell is stimulated to grow? What happens as a cell "decides" to become a cancer cell? Can we change the signaling and make the cell become normal again? These are some of the questions that we are trying to answer by studying a new cancer related gene called mier1 alpha. Our most recent work has led to the discovery of a role for MIER1 alpha specifically in breast cancer. We have found that MIER1 alpha can control the cell's response to estrogen, an important hormone for the growth of most breast cancers. When we force the tumour cells to overproduce MIER1 alpha, breast cancer growth is blocked. Our research in this proposal is aimed at uncovering how MIER1 alpha works. This will provide us with a better understanding about how the estrogen response and breast cancer growth is controlled by MIER1 alpha and ultimately, help us identify potential targets for the design of new drugs and alternative breast cancer treatments.