Medical Student Research Fellowship for Summer 2010

Mentor: Jer-Tsong Hsieh
Department: Urology
Room number: J8-134
Mail Code: 9110
Phone number: 8-3990
E-mail: jt.hsieh@utsouthwestern.edu
Project title: The role of microRNA in aggressive cancer

Human subjects IRB approved project number (where applicable):

Animal subjects IRB approved project number (where applicable): 2008-0219

Project Type animal-based research and basic research

Brief Description of Project: DAB2IP (DOC-2/DAB2 interactive protein or ASK interacting protein 1, AIP1) was first identified as a new member of RAS-GTPase activating protein (RAS-GAP) family with growth inhibitory activity in prostate cancer (PCa). Loss of DAB2IP expression, mainly due to altered epigenetic regulation of its promoter, is often associated with PCa as well as other cancer types. Noticeably, knocking down endogenous DAB2IP in immortalized normal epithelial cells promoted their tumorigenicity along with increased stem cell phenotypes.
Emerging evidence has demonstrated the critical role of microRNAs (miRNAs) in gene expression. miRNAs are small non-coding RNA that is regulated by its promoter. Each miRNA is thought to have multiple target genes that are regulated at the posttranscriptional level as a newly discovered machinery to regulate gene expression. Based on miRNA array screening, data were validated to confirm that DAB2IP significantly regulates the expression of a unique miR-363; the profile of miR-363 expression appears to be highly specific in normal prostate. Noticeably, the potential target genes of miR-363 include stem cell factors and apoptosis regulators.
this project is to delineate the functional links of miR-363 with the appearance of CSC and its clinical correlation in aggressive PCa.

Previous Research Activities or Publications with Medical Students:

2005 Kit Tam
2009 Stephen Chiang