Research & Initiatives

주요관심연구

​

1) The role of Down Syndrome Critical Region-1 (DSCR-1), an endogenous calcineurin inhibitor, in reduced tumor incidience of Down Syndrome indivisuals.
- It has been reported that the incidience of solid tumors is significantly decreased more than 10 fold in Down Syndrome individuals compared with that of normal individuals. To demonstrate which genes on chromosome 21 contribute to the suppression of tumor development in Down Syndrome individuals and what is the underlying mechanism of their functions, we are addressing the influence of their overexpression on oncogene-mediated tumorigenesis using conditional knock-in mice for oncogenic K-ras and Down Syndrome model mice.

2) The role of genomic instability in oncogene-mediated tumorigenesis.
-It has been suggested that genomic instability during tumorigenesis shows positive correlation with tumor malignancy and poor prognisis. However, recently, it was also reported that the induction of genomic instability leads to the cellular senescence, a permanant cell growth arrest which functions as a first defence-line for tumor development. For these reasons, the role of genomic instability during tumor development in vivo is still controversal. To make clear the role of genomic instability in tumorigenesis, our lab is investigating the progression of tumors triggered by oncogene expression in mice models with genomic instability.