Our Science – LHC Website

Laboratory of Human Carcinogenesis

In addition to the information presented below, the LHC has an alternative website that can provide you with more detail about their work.

Research

The Laboratory of Human Carcinogenesis conducts investigations to assess: (1) mechanisms of carcinogenesis including the cellular functions of tumor suppressor genes and oncogenes; (2) experimental approaches in biological systems for the extrapolation of carcinogenesis data and mechanisms from experimental animals to humans; (3) molecular epidemiology of human cancer risk; and (4) cancer biomarkers of diagnosis, prognosis, and therapeutic outcome.

The scientific strategy of the laboratory is reflected in its organization into three sections, the In Vitro Carcinogenesis Section, the Molecular Genetics and Carcinogenesis Section, and the Molecular Epidemiology Section. Scientifically, the emphasis is on the role of inherited or acquired host factors as important determinants of an individual's cancer susceptibility. Our investigations of host factors involve interspecies studies among laboratory animals and humans, and are multidisciplinary, to include molecular and cellular biology, pathology, epidemiology, and clinical investigation. The In Vitro Carcinogenesis and the Molecular Genetics and Carcinogenesis Sections devote their major efforts to more fundamental and mechanistic studies. The Liver Carcinogenesis Group within the Molecular Carcinogenesis Section focuses on the interactive effects of hepatitis viruses and chemical carcinogens in the molecular pathogenesis of hepatocellular carcinogenesis. The Molecular Epidemiology Section utilizes the scientific findings, techniques, and concepts developed by our two other sections and by the scientific community at large in selected and more applied studies of molecular genetics, carcinogenesis, and cancer prevention.

This page was last updated on 11/19/2008.