The Role of CLCA2 in Tumourigenesis

Identification of novel tumour-specific genes and pathways is a key strategy to gain additional prognostic markers and to identify molecular targets for chemical and/or immunological therapy. The combination of subtractive cDNA libraries and cDNA microarrays lead to the identification of the human calcium-activated chloride channel 2 (CLCA2), a member of the family of calcium-activated cytoplasmic trans-membrane chloride channel proteins. CLCA2 is highly expressed in lung squamous cell carcinoma. In the course of this PhD-Thesis a preferential overexpression of CLCA2 was shown in human squamous cell carcinomas (SCC) of different origins. CLCA2 was confirmed as a promising target in SCC tumourigenesis by in silico analysis of expression data, loss-of-function studies in SCC cell lines by siRNA-mediated knock-down, preliminary IHC analyses, inducible expression in tumour cells in combination with a detailed mutational analysis, 3D-In vitro carcinoma assays in multicellular tumour spheroids, expression profiling studies on Affymetrix GeneChips, and by utilising a text- and data-mining program for identification of several interaction-networks.

Autorentext

Mag. Dr. Daniela Scheer (nee Kozina) was born in Vienna and studied biology at the University of Vienna. She graduated in 2004. Her PhD project was performed at Boehringer Ingelheim Austria (2004-2008). She is specialised in the fields of molecular biology and anthropology and is currently employed in a patent law firm as an IP Professional.