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Anna Sablina
VIB Laboratory for Mechanism of Cell Transformation
VIB Department of Molecular and Developmental Genetics, K.U.Leuven
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PhD: Cancer Research Ctr., Moscow, Russia, '02
Postdoc: Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Cleveland, USA, '02-'04
Postdoc: Dana Faber Cancer Institute, Boston, USA, '04-'08
VIB Group leader since June 2009 |
e-mail
phone +32 16 33 07 90
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Current team members
Group leader: Anna Sablina
Postdoctoral scientist: Thomas Soin
Ph.D. Students: Michal Simicek, Peter Kalev
Support personnel: Nathalie Colpaert
Keywords
human cell transformation - functional genomics - cell signaling - protein phosphatase
Science
Cancer arises from normal cells through a series of genetic and epigenetic events that upset the balance of cell death, proliferation and differentiation. My laboratory is interested to understand the cooperative interactions that conspire to transform human cells. Experimental models of cell transformation derived from the manipulation of oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes provide us useful platform to delineate pathways involved in cell transformation and to discover new targets for therapeutic development. We combine such model systems with increasingly powerful genome-scale approaches such as SNP analysis and gene expression profiling to identify and validate genes involved in malignant transformation.
In particular, we plan the systemically screen to identify protein phosphatase complexes involved in control of cell transformation. Mutations that lead to constitutively active kinases are well-characterized drivers of cancer development. In contrast, the role of protein phosphatases in tumor suppression remains poorly understood, although modulation of their activities might form the foundation for an effective anti-cancer approach.
We propose to take a three-tiered approach toward a systematic characterization of phosphatase complexes in cancer development. Using a functional shRNA screen, we plan to dissect the contribution of specific phosphatase complexes to human cell transformation. By using innovative genome-scale approaches, we will perform a comprehensive search for phosphatase alterations in human cancer samples. We will then focus on deciphering the molecular roles of the identified complexes in tumor suppression through a directed proteomics approach together with cell transformation assays. Continued assessment of new intracellular targets of particular protein phosphatase complexes will permit us to reveal previously unidentified cellular pathways that critically contribute to the development of human cancers.
Selected Publications
Sablina A, Hahn W
SV40 small T antigen and PP2A phosphatase in cell transformation
CANCER METAST REV 27, 137-46, 2008
Cho U, Morrone S, Sablina A, Arroyo J, Hahn W, Xu W
Structural basis of PP2A inhibition by small t antigen
PLOS BIOL 5, e202, 2007
Sablina A, Chen W, Arroyo J, Corral L, Hector M, Bulmer S, Decaprio J, Hahn W
The tumor suppressor PP2A Abeta regulates the RalA GTPase
CELL 129, 969-82, 2007
Sablina A, Budanov A, Ilyinskaya G, Agapova L, Kravchenko J, Chumakov P
The antioxidant function of the p53 tumor suppressor
NAT MED 11, 1306-13, 2005
Budanov A, Sablina A, Feinstein E, Koonin E, Chumakov P
Regeneration of peroxiredoxins by p53-regulated sestrins, homologs of bacterial AhpD
SCIENCE 304, 596-600, 2004
Search Publications
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