Detail

Keywords

Drug Resistance; Epidermal Growth Factor; Mice; Receptors, Glucocorticoid; Small Cell Lung Carcinoma; Tumor Microenvironment

Research group(s)

• Emilio Casanova
  Members:
  Emilio Casanova
  Sarah Trouvilliez

Research interests

Since this « simply wondering what caused precocious eyelid openings in newborn mice », as Stanley Cohen said later, the discovery of the Epidermal Growth Factor resulted in important clinical consequences for Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor (EGFR)-driven cancers. For lung adenocarcinoma, leading cause of cancer deaths, the development of EGFR inhibitors, including the Pan-ErbB inhibitor Osimertinib, has improved the survival of patients. However, resistance inevitably occurred, revealing the need to find new therapeutic options for this devastated disease. 

Drive by my curiosity and my passion for the Growth Factors and their receptors, I decipher their role in cancer metastasis and resistance to therapy. I profoundly believe, that a better understanding of the molecular and cellular mechanisms will result in profound clinical change, as the Growth Factor (EGF and NGF) discovery.

Techniques, methods & infrastructure

I use autochthonous models of EGFR-driven LUAD GR proficient and deficient, orthotopic transplantation models of EGFR-mutated mouse line expressing or no the GR (Crispr/Cas9). Furthermore, to understand the role of the immune system in GR tumor suppressor function, we developed an autochthonous model EGFR driven expressing the neoantigen ovalbumin. To analyse these models, we use different technics including classical technics of biochemistry (qPCR, Westernblot), immunohistochemistry, FACS or RNASeq.