[BK21 Plus Seminar]

▶Subject: Enhancer reprogramming by FOXA1 promotes pancreatic cancer progression and metastasis

▶Speaker: Jae-Seok Roe Ph.D. (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, NY, USA)

▶Date: 4:00PM/June 19(Mon.)/2017

▶Place: Life Science Bldg. #104

▶Abctract
Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDA) is one of the most lethal human malignancies, owing in part to its propensity for metastasis. Here, we used an organoid culture system to investigate how transcription and the enhancer landscape become altered during discrete stages of disease progression in a PDA mouse model. This approach revealed that the metastatic transition is accompanied by massive and recurrent alterations in enhancer activity. We implicate the transcription factor FOXA1 as a driver of enhancer activation in this system, a mechanism that renders PDA cells more invasive and less anchorage-dependent for growth in vitro, as well as more metastatic in vivo. In this context, FOXA1 activates a foregut endoderm transcriptional program, without altering the expression of genes associated with the epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition. Collectively, our study implicates FOXA1 upregulation, enhancer reprogramming, and a novel retrograde developmental transition in PDA progression and metastasis.

▶Inquiry: Prof. Cheol-Sang Hwang (279-2352)

* This seminar will be given in English.
Please refrain from taking photos during seminars. *