Göran Landberg - Research

Overview

Molecular pathology is a core component in the portfolio of modern breast cancer research strategies. It has only recently been appreciated that breast cancers are a multitude of diseases with complex tissues consisting of cancer cell populations with different molecular properties as well as stromal cells, which both influence, and are influenced by, the tumour cells. This complexity is poorly understood today and needs to be clarified to better comprehend the disease and to develop future therapies.

By using a molecular pathology based approach we will identify and target cell cycle regulators and associated pathways that govern key features in the progression of early breast disease with altered tissue organisation, to infiltrative breast cancer with various aggressive properties including resistance to different therapies.

Research Aims

We aim to provide an integrated approach for breast cancer research by combining the analysis of clinical observations in vivo with cell and molecular techniques in the laboratory, through establishing a molecular pathology platform.

First, we will concentrate on cell cycle regulators in relation to the resistance of breast cancer to therapy. Current data indicate that aberrant expression of cyclin D1 is related to an unexpected agonist effect of Tamoxifen in patients; there are mediators for this effect within the11q13 amplicon in addition to CCND1 that we aim to identify. These studies also provide the potential for discovering novel diagnostic markers of resistance and new therapeutic targets.

Second, we and others have previously demonstrated an inverse association between proliferation and infiltration in invasive breast tumours; we will focus on cyclin D1 as an important target and use culture approaches, corroborated by validation in tissue microarrays of breast cancers, to identify the links between cyclins and cell migration. We hypothesise that agents mimicking aspects of cyclin function will inhibit invasion, and thus represent new approaches for breast cancer treatment.