Principal Investigator David Housman
We have focused on several cancers including Wilms tumor, glioblastoma and melanoma, in which analysis of genetic alterations in germline DNA or in specific tumors identify pathways of particular significance to tumorigenesis.
The laboratory has been very active in the study of the WT1 tumor suppressor gene demonstrating its key role in tumorigneesis and kidney and urogeneital development. Most recently, we have focused on the role of the WT1 gene in hematopoiesis. WT1 has been utilized as a marker and proposed as a target for therapy for leukemia. We studied murine hematopoietic cells in which the WT1 gene has been inactivated by homologous recombination. We have found that cells lacking WT1 show deficits in hematopoietic stem cell function. We are currently exploring the impact of compromise to WT1 function on both normal and leukemic cells with the goal of gaining further understanding of the utility of WT1 as a marker and a target in therapy for leukemia.