Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research
The Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research is a global non profit organization committed to improving the understanding and control of cancer through integrated laboratory and clinical discovery. Leveraging its worldwide network of investigators and the ability to sponsor and conduct its own clinical trials, the Institute is actively engaged in translating its discoveries into applications for human benefit.
LICR Investigators
Genome Integrity Dr. Richard D. Kolodner
In 1993-4, LICR Executive Director for Laboratory Science and Technology, Dr. Richard D. Kolodner, showed that inherited mutations in two DNA mismatch repair genes, MSH2 and MLH1, caused hereditary non-polyposis colorectal cancer (HNPCC), a common cancer susceptibility syndrome that predisposes to colorectal and many other types of cancer. Extending this work, Dr. Kolodner demonstrated in 1997 that epigenetic silencing of the MLH1 mismatch repair gene was the cause of the sporadic mismatch repair defective cancers accounting for 20% of sporadic colorectal cancers as well as a proportion of many other cancers. In 1999, Dr. Kolodner showed that inherited mutations in yet another mismatch repair gene, MSH6, cause familial colorectal cancer, another type of inherited cancer susceptibility. In parallel to this work, Dr. Kolodner, who was elected to the National Academy of Sciences USA in 2000, has identified the genes and pathways that prevent genome instability and begun to demonstrate that defects in these genes can cause the development of cancer.
News
June 22, 2008
Leukemia drug could save lives of stroke patients
The drug tPA is the most effective treatment currently available for stroke patients, but its safety is limited to use within the first three hours following the onset of symptoms. After that, tPA may cause dangerous bleeding in the brain. However, in a study published today in Nature Medicine, investigators from the Stockholm Branch of the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research (LICR) and the University of Michigan show that these problems might be overcome if tPA is combined with the leukemia drug, imatinib (Gleevec®).
May 5, 2008
New Player in Colon Cancer Genesis Identified
In a study published today in Cancer Cell, a group led by LICR Affiliate Dr. Kari Alitalo (Helsinki, Finland), identified the PROX1 protein as a key driver of colon cancer tumorigenesis.