Plurigenes

Oncodesign is involved in a 6th PCRD program called "Plurigenes" in collaboration with several prestigious national and international partners localized in Germany, Italy and UK. The aim of this program is to determine and to characterize new genes involved in the differentiation of neuronal progenitors in order to better understand stem cell differentiation and to develop de-differentiation methodologies.

According to the recent advances performed in oncology demonstrating the role of cancer stem cells in tumor development in different tissues, and also its dissemination and drug resistance, a special interest was given to the identification of genes that might be important in the maintenance and differentiation of cancer stem cells.

The main strategy for the identication of new genes is issued from the 5th PCRD program called Embryos Against Cancer. It involves, using systematic in situ hybridization, to identify genes overexpressed in particular zones known to contain progenitor cells and in different animal models (ascidian and fish). Their roles are then characterized in mammalian models (mouse and human), using KO, RNA interference and over-expression strategies. Alternative methods have also been developed to isolate the genes of interest directly from mammalian systems.

The characterization of genes important for the maintenance or the differentiation of cancer stem cells might lead to innovative strategies for designing new antitumor targeted therapies.