SCIENTIFIC REPORT 2004 - Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center

T U M O R C E L L B I O L O G Y P R O G R A M
membranes of invasive SCC-masses and newly
formed tumor vasculature. Strikingly, the studies
demonstrated an incremental expression pattern
as tumors progress from pre-malignant skin lesions
of actinic keratosis to malignant SCC. The
studies revealed a clear correlation between the
expression level of laminin-10 and tumor invasiveness,
which indicates that laminin-10 plays
important roles in tumor angiogenesis and
invasion.
Dr. Li anticipates that her laboratory’s research
will provide evidence that these two
laminins play important roles in one or more key
steps of tumor angiogenesis, including endothelial
cell attachment, migration, basement membrane
assembly, and microvascular blood vessel
formation. She and her colleagues expect to establish
the roles of laminins in cancer cell migration,
invasion, and metastasis. These studies are
expected to have profound implications for the
development of novel therapies designed to target
these extracellular matrix components and alter
the angiogenesis and progression of cancers.
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
2002
Calautti, E, Grossi, M, Mammucari, C, Aoyama,
Y, Pirro, M, Ono, Y, Li, J, and Dotto, GP. Fyn
tyrosine kinase is a downstream mediator of Rho/
PRK2 function in keratinocyte cell-cell adhesion.
Journal of Cell Biology 156:137-48, 2002.
2003
Li, J, Zhang, YP and Kirsner, RS. Angiogenesis in
wound repair: angiogenic growth factors and the
extracellular matrix. Microscopy Research and
Technique 60:107-14, 2003.
Vincek, V, Knowles, J, Li, J, and Nassiri, M. Expression
of p63 mRNA isoforms in normal human
tissue. Anticancer Research, 23:3945-48,
2003.
HIGHLIGHTS/DISCOVERIES
• Demonstrated that microvascular endothelial
cells produce two extracellular matrix laminin
proteins of laminin-8 and laminin-10, and that
these two laminins play important roles in tumor
angiogenesis. Angiogenesis is critical to
tumor growth and metastasis and the aggressive
behavior of malignant tumors is regulated by
signals from their extracellular matrix environment.
• Demonstrated that laminin-8 has strong effects
on endothelial cell attachment, migration, and
capillary tubule formation.
• Identified the high expression of laminin-10
in human malignant melanomas. Significantly
higher expression of laminin-10 also was
detected in the basement membranes of invasive
SCC mass and newly formed tumor blood
vessels.
• Demonstrated an incremental expression pattern
as tumors progress from pre-malignant
skin lesions of actinic keratosis to malignant
SCC. These studies revealed a clear correlation
between the expression level of laminin-10 and
SCC invasiveness and indicate that laminin-10
plays important roles in tumor angiogenesis and
invasion.
Li, J, Tzu, J, Chen, Y, Zhang, YP, Nguyen, NT,
Gao, J, Bradley, M, Keene, DR, Oro, AE, Miner,
JH, and Marinkovich, MP. Laminin-10 is crucial
for hair morphogenesis. EMBO Journal
22(10):2400-10, 2003.
UM/Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center Scientific Report 2004 81