About this Class

While the current state of knowledge surrounding cancer origin and tumorigenesis revolve around somatic mutation theory and cancer stem cells, there is still a gap in our understanding of the actual mechanism of cancer progression. In my presentation I will first give a detailed history of the embryological theory of cancer, from early ideas of the Trophoblastic Theory of Cancer to our current understanding of the developmental pathways involved in malignant progression. I will then introduce my project of elucidating developmental pathways that are dormant in adult tissues but are re-activated in cancer. I will show results from our analysis of enhancers and genes, across multiple cancer types and tissues, that are down-regulated during development but up-regulated in cancer (and vice versa). We hypothesize that it is these pathways, which have a foundation in development, that are likely to drive cancer progression. Speaker: Arati Rajeevan (Post-bacc, Dr. Hannenhalli Lab).