Exploring the Developmental Origins of Cancer

About this Class

While the current state of knowledge surrounding cancer origin and tumorigenesis revolve around somatic mutation theory and cancer stem cells, there is still a gap in our understanding of the actual mechanism of cancer progression. In my presentation I will first give a detailed history of the embryological theory of cancer, from early ideas of the Trophoblastic Theory of Cancer to our current understanding of the developmental pathways involved in malignant progression. I will then introduce my project of elucidating developmental pathways that are dormant in adult tissues but are re-activated in cancer. I will show results from our analysis of enhancers and genes, across multiple cancer types and tissues, that are down-regulated during development but up-regulated in cancer (and vice versa). We hypothesize that it is these pathways, which have a foundation in development, that are likely to drive cancer progression. Speaker: Arati Rajeevan (Post-bacc, Dr. Hannenhalli Lab).