Gokul Das, PhD, MPhil, MS
Roswell Park Cancer Institute
Functional analysis of mutant p53-estrogen receptor beta signaling crosstalk in high-grade serous ovarian cancer
High-grade serous ovarian cancer is strikingly similar to triple negative breast cancer as both can be particularly aggressive cancers and are likely to recur. Dr. Das has found that these two diseases are also similar on the molecular level as both types of cancer cells have a defect in a tumor suppressor gene called p53 and express a cell signaling protein called estrogen receptor beta (ERp). This project will analyze how the protein made by the defective p53 gene works in concert with ER) to influence aggressive cancer growth and therapeutic resistance. Dr. Das will examine ovarian cancer cell lines as well as 400 patient tumors to gain a fundamental understanding of how these proteins drive the progression of ovarian cancer over time.