Course Identification

Cell Adhesion, Signal Transduction and Cancer
20223042

Lecturers and Teaching Assistants

Prof. Avri Ben-Zeev
N/A

Course Schedule and Location

2022
Second Semester
Tuesday, 14:15 - 16:00
29/03/2022
19/08/2022

Field of Study, Course Type and Credit Points

Life Sciences: Seminar; Elective; Regular; 1.00 points
Life Sciences (Molecular and Cellular Neuroscience Track): Seminar; Elective; Regular; 1.00 points

Comments

Pre-registration is required. Maximum participants, 12-15 students.

*Location change- FGS room 1

Prerequisites

The introductry lecture will be presented frontally and will also be filmed and will be available on the course's website.  By the second lecture, the participants are expected to read the papers in the "reading list".  In addition, in the second lecture, the papers to be discussed during the seminar course will be briefly introduced and the papers will be assigned to the course participants (one paper per participant).  From the third lecure on, each week, we will discuss one paper by the presenting student, and we expect to have fruitful discussions with all the participants.

Restrictions

15

Language of Instruction

English

Attendance and participation

Obligatory

Grade Type

Numerical (out of 100)

Grade Breakdown (in %)

30%
70%

Evaluation Type

Seminar

Scheduled date 1

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-
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Estimated Weekly Independent Workload (in hours)

3

Syllabus

In this seminar course, we will discuss recent papers addressing the links between cell adhesion, signal transduction and gene regulation that govern both normal biological processes (growth, differentiation, development), and in particular the changes in these links in the course of oncogenic transformation.

  1. We will summarize recent studies addressing the molecular mechanisms regulating steps involved in the development of distal metastatic lesions from the primary tumor.
  2. We will discuss reports on signaling by receptors of cell adhesion (cadherins, integrins, etc), the downstream signaling pathways they activate, and their interaction with the "classical" signaling pathways induced by tyrosine kinase (and other) transmembrane receptors.
  3. The dual role of beta-catenin as the cytoplasmic partner of the cadherin adhesion receptor, and the additional role of beta-catenin as a key co-transcriptional activator in the Wnt pathway, will also be addressed.
  4. We will debate the idea that invasive cancer development includes steps that share similarities with processes characteristic of embryonal development, such as the epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT).
  5. We will also discuss the role of stem cell signature genes in tumor formation and during metastasis and their links to EMT-like phenotypic changes.
  6. Finally, we will debate the notion that these biological processes that are associated with development of the malignant phenotype are plastic, and therefore might be reversible.

Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion of this course the students should be able to:

Demonstrate knowledge of contemporary molecular mechanisms involved in adhesion-mediated signaling and the changes in such signaling during malignant transformation. In particular, mechanisms involving EMT, stem cell signature genes and their possible role during the process of malignant cancer development.

Reading List

  1. Lambert, A. and Weinberg, R. 2021.  Linking EMT programmes to normal and neoplastic epithelial stem cells.  Nature Reviews Cancer 2: 326-338.
  2. Nieto, A. et al. EMT: 2016.  Cell 166: 21-46, 2016.

Website

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