SULSA Student Susana Moleirinho contributes to paper linking 'Willin' and Cancer

SULSA student Susana Moleirinho, based at the University of St Andrews and supervised by Dr Frank Gunn-Moore, has contributed to a new paper that potentially links a mammalian gene 'Willin' to cancer inducing signalling pathways.

In the paper published in Oncogene on 13 June 2011, the authors describe how they investigated the mammalian equivalent of a gene that is known to influence tissue size and cell death in Drosophila Melanogaster.

In drosophila, the Salvador/Warts/Hippo signalling cascade limits organ size by inhibiting cell proliferation and promoting apoptosis.

Components of this pathway are conserved in mammals, so it has been suggested that disruption of this pathway could be a cause of human cancers.

The team looked at a mammalian gene called willin/Ex1/FRMD6 (Willin is named after the founder of the University of Edinburgh's Vet School - William Dick - where Dr Gunn-Moore was working when he identified Willin).

Willin had been previously identified as a mammalian orthologue of a fly Hippo signalling cascade gene called Expanded (Ex). Ex has been shown to have a significant role in the control of tissue size in drosophila.

Their experiments revealed that Willin was able to activate parts of the Hippo pathway, and it sensitised cells to apoptotic stimuli. Indeed Willin antagonises the action of the known oncogene YAP.

The team therefore conclude that Willin does play a role in the control of mammalian tissue size and apoptosis, and disruption of Willin's function might be a cause of cancerous tissue growth in humans.

The paper is published here. For more information about Frank Gunn-Moore visit his web page at St Andrews University here.