Advanced stage ovarian cancer (OC) patients only have an overall 5-year survival of 20%. While targeted therapies such as PARP inhibitors have improved progression free survival, immunotherapy has so far not resulted in clear patient benefit. Importantly, the role of tumor-dendritic cells (DCs) as a key player in mounting an adaptive immune response has not been investigated yet in OC. Indeed, our lab has uncovered that vaccination with ...
Our knowledge about genes, associated with an increased risk of hereditary breast and ovarian cancer, has increased significantly. However, the exact risks associated with germline mutations, in these recently detected genes, are not yet known. This creates a complex situation in communicating genetic test results to persons who have a mutation in these genes. To get more insight into the risks, we will develop a national database in this ...
The development of more targeted therapies opened up a completely new era in treatment of gynaecological malignancies. However, little is known about the ideal position and timing in the treatment strategy and which patients in particular will benefit from treatments such as poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase inhibitors (PARPi) and immune checkpoint blockade (ICB). The aim of this proposal is to find (epi-)genetic markers that predict response to ...
NEAT1 is a well-conserved, highly expressed nuclear RNA that does not code for proteins. It exists in two isoforms of 3.7 and 22.7 kb, of which the longer is the essential architectural component of a nuclear body in the cell, the paraspeckle.
In this thesis, we show that the tumor suppressor p53 upregulates NEAT1 transcription leading to the formation of paraspeckles in cultured cells, in mouse skin, and in human ...
The eukaryotic genome is pervasively transcribed, and the vast majority of the RNA species are not generated from protein-coding genes, but rather from the so called “dark matter” of the genome. Emerging evidence indicates that such non-coding transcripts may participate in a broad spectrum of biological processes.
A well-conserved and very abundant non-coding RNA is NEAT1, which is essential for the formation and structural ...
Cancer is a genetic disease. Genetic changes or mutations that alter the function of genes, can provide a cell with a selective growth advantage compared to its surrounding cells. Next-generation sequencing is revolutionizing the characterization of these (epi)genetic alterations and is gaining influence on therapy choice and prediction of prognosis. This manuscript describes the results and interpretations derived of genetic ...