Progetto di ricerca

KAUST University - Computational identification of drugs inhibiting breast cancer stem cells by inducing differentiation (DSB.AD001.179)

Area tematica

Scienze biomediche

Area progettuale

Oncologia e Immunologia (DSB.AD001)

Struttura responsabile del progetto di ricerca

Istituto per l'endocrinologia e l'oncologia "Gaetano Salvatore" (IEOS)

Responsabile di progetto

MONICA FEDELE
Telefono: 0817463605
E-mail: monica.fedele@cnr.it

Abstract

According to ever-increasing amount of evidence, the majority of human tumors are initiated and
maintained by a population of cells that display stem-like properties. Such cells, termed cancer stem
cells (CSCs), may mediate tumor metastasis and relapse, thus representing a potentially effective
therapeutic target towards long-term remission. Differentiation therapy, which aims at targeting CSC
stemness, represents a paradigmatic case in Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML), but holds a tremendous
therapeutic hope for the treatment of solid tumors as well, such as metastatic breast cancer. The aim of
this project is to identify drugs that are able to induce differentiation of breast CSCs by using an
innovative machine learning method based on the analysis of large collections of untreated and drugtreated
gene expression profiles (GEPs). We will predict and experimentally test a set of molecules for
their ability to induce differentiation of breast cancer stem cells and exert synergistic effects with
existing therapeutic agents.

Data inizio attività

14/12/2020

Parole chiave

KAUST

Ultimo aggiornamento: 29/03/2024