Request for Funding

Medical Student Research Fellowship for Summer 2004

Mentor: David J. Mangelsdorf, Ph.D.
Department: Pharmacology
Room number: L3110
Mail Code: 9050
Phone number: 86349
E-mail: davo.mango@utsouthwestern.edu
Project title: Nuclear receptor profiling in normal and diseased states

Human subjects IRB approved project number (where applicable):

Animal subjects IRB approved project number (where applicable):

Project Type (patient-based research, animal-based research, or basic research; this characterization is only to permit a general classification for grouping similar types of projects): Basic

Brief Description of Project:

The expression of the entire nuclear receptor gene family (48 genes) will be surveyed in a number of normal and primary cancer cell lines. We will use a high-throughput QPCR strategy that our lab has developed for the initial experiments. Receptor-positive cell lines will then be tested for their response to specific agonists or antagonists that may be available for that receptor. In addition to providing potentially useful clinical markers for diagnosis, such an analysis may provide novel therapeutic options for the treatment of individual cancers on a patient-by-patient basis. For example, only a subpopulation of lung cancers may express vitamin D receptor and, therefore, be response to vitamin D. Upon completion, this will be the first complete gene family survey of its kind where expression profiling may lead to novel therapeutic options that are tailor-made for individual patients. Given that there are over 30 nuclear receptors with known ligands, the potential for finding such therapies is high.

Previous Research Activities or Publications with Medical Students:

Bryan Ong: The role of LXRs and FXR in skin.
Reese Graves: VDR polymorphisms in colon cancer.

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