Objective
Research objectives and content
Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the major type of liver tumor and is one of the most fatal cancer forms. Hepatitis B virus infection, cirrhosis, and contamination of food and water by Aflatoxin B 1, have been suggested as the most important etiologic factors for HCC. Enhanced incidence of HCC has been observed in South-European countries, including Sardegna, probably as a consequence of an increased incidence of Hepatitis B and C infection. Mutations or other structural abnormalities of p53 tumor suppressor gene are the most frequent genomic changes in human liver cancer. Indeed, p53 mutations have been detected in hepatitis B virus-positive and Aflatoxin B l-related human hepatocellular carcinomas. The purpose of the present project is to study whether functional inactivation of p53 and related genes may be responsible for the growth of HCCs using an experimental system, such as in vivo rat liver bioassays, where it is possible to analyze the multiple steps of the carcinogenic process.
This approach will support epidemiological investigations carried out in Sardegna to evaluate the role of hepatic markers in the etiology of liver cancer in terms of the Sardinian population.
Training content (objective, benefit and expected impact)
In order to dissect the role of p53 and related genes in
hepatocarcinogenesis it is necessary to use molecular biology techniques such as Western Blotting, immunoprecipitation, gel-shifts and nuclear run-off assays. However, Professor Columbano's department at the University of Cagliari does not have such expertise. Therefore I will establish these techniques and train the people in his laboratory. This should then enable them to determine the role of growth and tumor suppressor genes in liver cancer providing new molecular biological markers in their studies on the Sardinian population. These biomarkers could be useful for early detection of liver cancer.
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.
- medical and health sciences clinical medicine oncology liver cancer
- medical and health sciences health sciences infectious diseases
- natural sciences biological sciences genetics mutation
- medical and health sciences clinical medicine hepatology
- natural sciences biological sciences molecular biology
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Programme(s)
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Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Topic(s)
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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.
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Funding Scheme
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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
09124 Cagliari
Italy
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.