Project Leader

• Professor Ron Firestein

Project Description: Therapeutic targeting of the colon cancer epigenome

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the second most common malignancy in Australia with over 17,000 cases diagnosed a year. Wnt/b-catenin signaling pathway plays a pivotal role in the development of CRC. 90% of CRC contains genetic mutations that lead to the hyperactivation of Wnt/b-catenin pathway, while abrogating β-catenin function results in the loss of tumorigenic potential of Wnt-active CRC cells. However, the transduction of Wnt/b-catenin pathway in CRC, especially at the transcriptional and epigenetic levels, remains incompletely understood. This project uses genome editing technology to systematically investigate the regulators of Wnt/b-catenin signaling in CRC cells and evaluate their merits in CRC therapy.