Nucleoli, Inflammation and Cancer: Does size matter

Speaker: Professor Lasley Stark

Venue: Seminar, 2A-203, ZJE Building, Haining Campus

Abstract: Lesley Stark is Chair of Nucleolar signalling and Cancer Prevention at the University of Edinburgh Institute of Genetics and Cancer. She is internationally renowned for her work on aspirin prevention of colon cancer and the links she has established between cancer prevention, the nucleolus and NF-kB signalling. Her lab established that aspirin causes degradation of a poll complex component, TIF-IA, which has profound affects on nucleolar structure in colon cancer cells and causes cell death through the NF-kB pathway. Identification of this novel mechanism of action has allowed her lab to develop a specific phenotypic drug screen which they are now using to identify agents that mimic the effects of aspirin on colon cancer cells. The interests of the lab in the link between the nucleolus and inflammation has now extended to senescence and aging. In a recent seminal study, they established that TIF-IA accumulation is key for the nucleolar phenotype observed in senescence and for the NF-kB-driven senescence associated secretory phenotype. They predict that this pathway contributes to colon cancer risk with age, which is an area of active investigation.