Understanding the roles of Celsr1 and Fzd6/3 in Breast Cancer Invasion
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Understanding the roles of Celsr1 and Frizzled receptors in breast cancer invasion
IRAS ID
264769
Contact name
Caroline Formstone
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Hertfordshire
Duration of Study in the UK
4 years, 0 months, 1 days
Research summary
Our goal is to investigate the role of the Planar Cell Polarity (PCP) pathway in breast cancer progression. PCP generates highly organized tissues and is essential during embryonic development. Dysfunction of PCP during embryonic development results in severe birth defects. In recent years several studies have suggested that PCP plays a significant role in promoting breast cancer metastasis. Our study looks at the 2 'core' PCP components, CELSR1 and Frizzled. We are looking specifically at these two proteins because previous study has suggested that Frizzled over-expression (increase in expression) promotes breast cancer metastasis whereas over-expression of CELSR1 has a protective role. CELSR1 and Frizzled are G-protein coupled receptor-like proteins (GPCRs) which function together to signal from the outside to the inside of the cell and coordinate cell signalling across a tissue. We want to test the hypothesis that breast cancer metastasis is promoted by their functional disconnection. This study is important because an independent Frizzled could act as a proto-oncogene (a gene which when mutated leads to cancer) whilst an independent CELSR1 may be a tumor suppressor.
Investigating cell signalling pathways is essential for cancer research because of the dramatic impact of proto-oncogenes and tumor suppressors on tumor progression. Notably, CELSR1 and Frizzled are GPCRs. GPCRs represent a group of well established signalling receptors targeted by small molecule inhibitors, which are known to represent an effective alternative to aggressive chemotherapy.
This research is being undertaken by a PhD student at University of Hertfordshire.REC name
South Central - Hampshire A Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
19/SC/0451
Date of REC Opinion
17 Sep 2019
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion