E-mail: barbara.graves@hci.utah.edu
Address: HCI 4380
Phone: 585-2887

Understanding the mechanism of in vivo target selection in the oncogenic ETS family of transcription factors

The long term goal of this project is to understand the mechanism of in vivo target selection in the oncogenic ETS family of transcription factors.  The results of this project will provide both general insight into the mechanisms of specificity in transcription factor families, and a better understanding of the function of ETS proteins in prostate cancer.  We have utilized unbiased genomic approaches to define the ETS family specificity problem and to identify specific and redundant modes of target binding.  We plan to utilize biochemical and functional assays to test binding models. In addition we will utilize these binding models as a framework to understand the role of ETS proteins in prostate cancer.  The majority of prostate tumors have a chromosome translocation that fuses a prostate-specific, androgen-responsive promoter to an ETS gene that encodes an activator of transcription.  This has led to a model of tumoriogenesis that evokes oncogenic targets being regulated the ETS factors.  We will use state of the art genomic (ChIP-chip) experiment to identify these targets.

1/2008