Professor Neil Perkins, Institute for Cell and Molecular Biosciences (ICaMB), Newcastle University
Tuesday 31st May, 1.00 p.m., Stacey Lecture Theatre 1
My laboratory is interested in how NF-κB subunits are regulated by oncogenes, tumour suppressors and stimuli associated with cancer development and therapy. A theme emerging from these studies has been the importance of context for NF-κB activity and how subunits can both repress as well as activate gene targets, leading to alterations in cell fate. We have demonstrated the importance of post-translational modifications in controlling these activities and argued that the activity of parallel signalling pathways have a critical role in determining NF-κB dependent transcriptional output. Based on this work, together with that from other researchers, we propose that the concerted action of tumour suppressors functions to keep the oncogenic activities of NF-κB subunits in check and that loss of tumour suppressor activity during tumour development is required to unleash these anti apoptotic and pro-metastatic activities in malignant cancer cells. In my talk I will present recent and unpublished data from mouse and cell line models, where we have investigated the role of NF-κB subunits in cancer. These studies underline context dependent complexity of NF-κB signalling in cancer.