Estrogen receptor as prognostic marker and therapeutic target
Research in this direction involves the following projects:
1.1. Prognostic and therapeutic significance of estrogen receptors (ER) in endocrine cancer - Tasks: To develop antibodies for analyzing the prognostic and predictive significance of ERâ1 and ERâ2 in breast and prostate cancer and use them in IHC studies of archival diseased and healthy tissue - Funding: 02PRAKSE98, 03ED644, FOOD-CT-2005-513943.
1.2. Development of ER subtype-specific agonists and antagonists - Tasks: Use cell lines bearing reporter genes subject to ER subtype-specific regulation for high throughput screening and testing of natural and synthetic estrogens and antiestrogens in order to discover ER-modulating agents potentially active against post-menopausal degenerative disease - Funding: 02PRAKSE97, Å!3060-SERMs, 02DSBEPRO32, 09ÓÕÍ-11-1076.
1.3. Combination therapies to combat breast cancer resistance to antiestrogens - Tasks: Investigate, 1) combinations of antiestrogens and/or EGFR/HER2 inhibitors with novel PI3K-targeted therapeutics for their effect against ERá-positive, HER2-positive and triple negative breast cancer cells and, 2) the involvement of PTEN in developing resistance to these therapeutic combinations - Funding: HPMD-CT-2001-00116, MTKD-CT-2004-509836, 09ÓÕÍ-11-675.
1.4. Estrogen and/or ER involvement in neuroprotection from oxidative stress - Tasks: Use hippocampal neurons natively or forcefully expressing ERá or ERâ and displaying cell death in response to oxidative stress to study the role of ERs, endogenous estrogen and neurosteroids, dietary or synthetic polyphenols and other antioxidants in neuroprotection - Funding: 01ED258, MEST-CT-2005-020575.
