Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is one of the five leading causes of cancer-related deaths in the West, and this, largely, is due to metastatic disease. In order to better understand PDAC metastatic spread and identify novel therapeutic targets, we analysed the proteome …
Epithelial ovarian cancer frequently metastasizes to the omentum, a process that requires pro-angiogenic activation of local microvascular endothelial cells (ECs) by tumour-secreted factors. We have previously shown that ovarian cancer cells secrete factors, other than vascular …
Expression of the platelet-derived growth factor receptor (PDGFR) correlates with metastatic medulloblastoma and PDGF treatment of medulloblastoma cells activates the pro-survival and pro-migratory pathways downstream of the receptor, for instance, increases extra-cellular regul…
Prostate cancer (PCa) is the fifth leading cause of cancer-related deaths amongst men worldwide. Androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) in combination with radiation therapy (XRT) is the standard of care for high-risk localized PCa. Unfortunately, most patients become resistant to A…
Splicing factors bind, in most cases, to a degenerate motif in the pre-mRNA of the target gene and either recruit or repel the spliceosome to/from nearby splice sites. Many splicing factors possess RNA-independent functions, such as protein-protein interactions in cellular compl…
Cell-free circulating DNA (cfDNA) released from dying cells is emerging as an important tool for the diagnosis of disease. However, the utility of cfDNA is limited in conditions in which involved tissues have a normal genome or unknown mutations. I have developed an approach to …
Prostate Cancer (PCa) is a non-cutaneous malignancy in men. Considering the severity of the disease, it is essential to consider the early detection and screening of prostate-specific antigen for decreasing the incidence of death due to this disease. Decipher is a genomic test t…
Beyond genes, at different scales, cancer exhibits a narrow dialectic interaction with other cells and with its physical environment, undoubtedly an ecological phenomenon. This thesis focuses on theoretical, analytical, and experimental approaches at different scales; from cance…