Project description DEENESFRITPL Unravelling molecular mechanisms of bile duct cancer Cholangiocarcinoma is a type of bile duct cancer that is difficult to treat and has an increasing incidence rate. Surgery is the only curative treatment, but many tumours are not operable at diagnosis. There is currently no effective systemic therapy regimen. Funded by the European Research Council, the CholangioConcept project aims to understand the molecular mechanisms of carcinogenesis in the bile duct and identify new therapeutic targets. Researchers will focus on intracellular cholangiocarcinoma because of its high metastatic rate and its potential association with hepatic metabolism. They will investigate the role of specific oncogenes as well as the influence of the gut microbiome in cholangiocarcinoma progression and metastasis. The goal is to obtain new insights that will help design more effective treatments. Show the project objective Hide the project objective Objective Genetic heterogeneity and complexity are hallmarks of metastatic solid tumors and therapy resistance inevitably develops upon treatment with cytotoxic drugs or molecular targeted therapies. Cholangiocarcinoma (CCC, or bile duct cancer) represents the second most frequent primary liver tumor and has emerged as a health problem with sharply increasing incidence rates, in particular of intrahepatic CCC (ICC). The reason for increased CCC incidence remains unclear, but influences of western lifestyle and a resulting altered hepatic metabolism have been discussed. Surgical resection represents the only curative option for the treatment of CCC, however, many tumors are irresectable at the time of diagnosis. CCC represents a highly aggressive and metastatic tumor type and currently no effective systemic therapy regimen exists. The overall molecular mechanisms driving CCC formation and progression remain poorly characterized and it thus becomes clear that a detailed molecular characterization of cholangiocarcinogenesis and the identification of robust therapeutic targets for CCC treatment are urgently needed. Taking advantage of our strong expertises in chimaeric (mosaic) liver cancer mouse models and stable in vivo shRNA technology, we here propose a comprehensive and innovative approach to i) dissect molecular mechanisms of cholangiocarcinogenesis, with a particular emphasis on Kras driven ICC development from adult hepatocytes and oncogenomic profiling of ICC metastasis, ii) to employ direct in vivo shRNA screening to functionally identify new therapeutic targets for CCC treatment and iii) to characterize the role of the gut microbiome for CCC progression and metastasis. We envision this ERC-funded project will yield important new insights into the molecular mechanisms of CCC development, progression and metastasis. As our work comprises direct and functional strategies to identify new vulnerabilities in CCC, the obtained data harbor a very high translational potential. Fields of science medical and health sciencesclinical medicineoncologyliver cancernatural sciencesbiological sciencesmicrobiology Programme(s) H2020-EU.1.1. - EXCELLENT SCIENCE - European Research Council (ERC) Main Programme Topic(s) ERC-CoG-2014 - ERC Consolidator Grant Call for proposal ERC-2014-CoG See other projects for this call Funding Scheme ERC-COG - Consolidator Grant Host institution EBERHARD KARLS UNIVERSITAET TUEBINGEN Net EU contribution € 1 998 898,00 Address GESCHWISTER-SCHOLL-PLATZ 72074 Tuebingen Germany See on map Region Baden-Württemberg Tübingen Tübingen, Landkreis Activity type Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Participation in EU R&I programmes Opens in new window HORIZON collaboration network Opens in new window Total cost € 1 998 898,00 Beneficiaries (1) Sort alphabetically Sort by Net EU contribution Expand all Collapse all EBERHARD KARLS UNIVERSITAET TUEBINGEN Germany Net EU contribution € 1 998 898,00 Address GESCHWISTER-SCHOLL-PLATZ 72074 Tuebingen See on map Region Baden-Württemberg Tübingen Tübingen, Landkreis Activity type Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Participation in EU R&I programmes Opens in new window HORIZON collaboration network Opens in new window Total cost € 1 998 898,00
