Timeframe: 2017 – 2020
Goal: Investigate the role of microRNAs and long non-coding RNAs in fibrolamellar carcinoma and evaluate RNA-based therapeutics
Principal Investigator: Praveen Sethupathy Associate Professor Department of Biomedical Sciences, Cornell University, College of Veterinary Medicine
This study aimed to leverage genome-scale approaches to discover the molecular factors most critical to FLC tumor formation, metastasis, and drug resistance. MicroRNAs and long non-coding RNAs are RNA species that do not contain instructions for protein formation yet are vital to numerous biological processes including tumor formation. Specific study efforts included:
- Identifying microRNAs and long non-coding RNAs that facilitate FLC tumor formation/invasion
- Evaluating the potential of RNA-based therapeutics to inhibit their activity
- Integration of these results with multiple large-scale genomic and metabolomic datasets to identify critical druggable pathways.
For a description of some of the lab’s published work, visit <https://www.cmghjournal.org/article/S2352-345X(19)30010-4/fulltext> and<http://news.cornell.edu/stories/2019/02/key-rare-aggressive-liver-cancer-found-rna-molecule>.