Objective
Cancer remains one of the leading causes of death in the Western world, and while chemotherapy has provided a major improvement in survival for a wide array of malignant diseases lethality remains high in most cancers and side-effects are severe, and include developmental impairment, when used in childhood malignancies, infertility as well as damage to non-malignant tissues with resulting diminished quality of life for a large proportion of survivors.
Recently, the realization that several tumour types contain rare populations of cancer stem cells (CSCs), which are capable of reforming the tumour upon transplantation while their progeny are not, have opened the possibility of using CSCs as targets for directed molecular therapies that could lead to improved tumour eradication as well as reduced side effects of treatment. The goal of the present project is to perform a thorough characterization of AML, cALL and breast cancer CSCs, as well as a systematic comparison of these with their normal stem cell and progenitor counterparts using gene profiling, to identify putative molecular targets in CSCs.
In parallel, we will use mouse genetic modelling to obtain information about genes regulated by oncogenic changes in stem- and progenitor cell populations. Directly oncoprotein-regulated CSC targets will be validated in vitro and, where relevant, in vivo. Finally, we will screen small molecule libraries for compounds that antagonize leukemogenic oncoproteins in efficient zebrafish models. These compounds will be tested for activity in mammalian assays, screened against the putative targets identified by gene profiling, and used to affinity-purify additional interacting proteins.
The final outcome will be a set of identified and validated CSC molecular targets, and a corresponding collection of small molecule inhibitors with activity against the effects of leukemogenic oncoproteins on hematopoietic stem cell/progenitor populations.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- natural sciences biological sciences biochemistry biomolecules proteins
- medical and health sciences medical biotechnology cells technologies stem cells
- medical and health sciences clinical medicine oncology breast cancer
- medical and health sciences clinical medicine transplantation
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Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
FP6-2005-LIFESCIHEALTH-6
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Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Coordinator
HEIDELBERG
Germany
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.