Objective
A large percentage of tumours from hereditary non-polyposis colon cancer (HNPCC) patients, as well as more than 15% of sporadic colon tumours, display micro satellite instability (MSI) , which has been linked to a defect in mismatch correction (MMR) . Tumour cells with high MSI (MSI-H) differ from other cancer cells: they are largely diploid and the oncogenes and tumour suppressor genes mutated in them are frequently different from those altered in sporadic disease without MSI. We shall compare the response of normal and MSI-H cells to a series of chemotherapeutic and radiomimetic agents, as well as to ionising and non-ionising radiation. The principal aim of this program is to exploit the identified differences in cancer therapy, by devising ways of selectively killing cells with MSI. The second goal of the study is to use our findings to develop new, facile, diagnostic strategies for the identification of at-risk individuals.
Funding Scheme
CSC - Cost-sharing contractsCoordinator
2333 AL Leiden
Netherlands
Participants (5)
833 91 Bratislava
00161 Roma
00167 Roma
4000 Roskilde
8008 Zurich