Download Scott M. Welford, PhD. Assistant Professor of Radiation Oncology

The Auckland Cancer Research Network
fostering collaborative cancer research
Friday 1st November 2013
1pm – 2pm
Lecture theatre 501-505, FMHS, Grafton
The Macrophage Migration
Inhibitory Factors:
microenvironmental drivers of
tumorigenesis
Scott M. Welford, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Radiation Oncology, Case Western Reserve University
School of Medicine
http://casemed.case.edu/radonc/faculty/scott_welford.cfm
Abstract:
Clear cell renal cell carcinomas (ccRCC) are characterized by biallelic loss of the von Hippel
Lindau tumor suppressor and subsequent constitutive activation of the hypoxia inducible factors,
whose transcriptional programs dictate major phenotypic attributes of kidney tumors. The MIF
family of cytokines is comprised of two hypoxia regulated factors that shape the tumor
microenvironment. Macrophage migration inhibitor factor (MIF) D-dopachrome tautomerase
(DDT) share significant sequence and functional homology and are found to be coordinately
expressed in the majority of ccRCC, serving both autocrine and paracrine functions to promote
growth and aggressiveness of tumors. MIF is a widely-studied and pleiotropic cytokine implicated
in a variety of diseases and cancers, and is the target of both small molecule and antibody-based
therapies currently in clinical trials. We have investigated roles for MIF and DDT in renal cancer,
and have found significant overlap functions in controlling cell survival, tumor formation, and
tumor- and endothelial-cell migration. Our findings identify DDT as a functionally redundant but
more potent cytokine to MIF in cancer, and suggest that current attempts to inhibit MIF signaling
may fail due to DDT compensation.
OPEN SESSION
For further information please contact Euphemia Leung at [email protected]