Grants

Grant to enhance research on pancreatic cancer may lead to new clinical interventions

Dr. Keli Xu, CCRI member and associate professor in the Department of Cell and Molecular Biology, was recently awarded an R01 grant, a highly competitive research grant viewed as the gold standard in biomedical research, from the National Cancer Institute. Xu's lab will use the funding to investigate functions of Lunatic Fringe (Lfng), an important regulator within the Notch signaling pathway, in pancreatic cancer.

Through the use of mouse models, Xu’s research demonstrates that Lfng is expressed in centroacinar cells, which are selectively affected by oncogenic mutations, leading to pancreatic tumor formation. His findings also demonstrate that the elimination of Lfng hinders the initiation of these tumors. Additionally, Lfng expression is specifically activated in precursor lesions derived from acinar and ductal cells, and its deletion hinders both the initiation and progression of these lesions.

In pancreatic cancer patients, high LFNG expressions are linked with significantly shortened survival. Xu's recent grant will lead to enhanced research which has the potential to offer new insights into pancreatic cancer initiation and progression, with the hope of identifying a therapeutic target for the disease. Potential findings may also uncover significant differences among various subtypes of pancreatic cancer, which could enhance clinical interventions.