Links between regulation of gene expression and cancer

Prof. Moshe Oren, Department of Molecular Cell Biology

Director, Moross Integrated Cancer Center
moshe.oren@weizmann.ac.il

The main goals of Prof. Oren’s laboratory are to elucidate the biochemical and biological processes that underlie the ability of p53 to act as a tumor suppressor and, more broadly, to explore the mechanistic links between regulation of gene expression and cancer.

In addition, Prof. Oren is also interested in the following topics:

(1) Mdm2, an oncogene whose protein products inhibit the biochemical activity of p53 and target p53 for rapid degradation;

(2) ARF, a tumor suppressor that can trigger p53 activation in cancer-prone cells;

(3) Lats2, another tumor suppressor that links p53 activation to oncogenic processes and to regulation of genome stability;

(4) Mutant p53 gain of function, by which the mutated protein acquires additional pro-oncogenic functions;

(5) RNF20, an enzyme responsible for ubiquitination of histone H2B, which acts as a putative tumor suppressor through selective regulation of gene expression;

(6) microRNAs, small non-coding RNAs whose aberrant expression is broadly involved in cancer