Band Lab

The major focus of the laboratory is to delineate molecular mechanisms of early steps in transformation of mammary epithelial cells with the goal of identifying novel molecular diagnostic/prognostic markers and potential therapy targets of breast cancers.

We have identified several new proteins that are involved in mammary epithelial cell transformation. These are: i) E6TP1 (for E6 targeted protein 1) it was later renamed as Sipa1L1 (due to high homology with Sipa1). We are testing the hypothesis that Sipa1L1 functions as a negative regulator of Rap-GTPase in mammary epithelial cell-matrix and cell-cell adhesion; ii) hADA3 (alteration deficiency in activation 3), we have shown that hADA3 is a novel transcriptional co-activator of p53, retinoid receptors and estrogen receptors and thus involved in number of physiological processes; iii) hEcd, the human homologue of drosophila ecdysoneless (Ecd). Cell and knockout mouse model demonstrates that Ecd is involved in cell survival. Current research in the laboratory is to examine the role of these novel targets in epithelial cell growth, differentiation, development, and oncogenesis using both in vitro and in vivo (knock-out) models. Furthermore, an important ongoing area of research is to examine the role of these novel proteins in breast and other carcinomas tumor progression by examining their expression and localization in human tumor tissues.

The other area of interest in the laboratory is to isolate and define stem/progenitor cells that differentiate into different cell types of the mammary gland, such as myoepithelial, luminal or basal cells. We are attempting to develop in vitro and in vivo models of different sub-types of human breast cancers to understand the biological basis of distinct tumor subtypes and exploring these as potential models for therapy.

Full list of publications.