Abstract

Chronic inflammation is associated with increased cancer risk and is estimated to be associated with about 20% of all cancer-related deaths. The speaker and his collaborators have previously shown that activation on NF-ĸB transcription factors, especially in inflammatory cells is a major mechanism that links inflammation to increased cancer risk. However, even cancers that are not associated with an underlying chronic inflammatory disease or infection are dependent on inflammatory signaling for their development and progression and most such tumors exhibit extensive inflammatory infiltrates. They have recently examined mechanisms through which cancer cells can recruit and activate inflammatory cells to their benefits. In this talk, the speaker will describe the characterization of cancer-derived factors that lead to macrophage-mediated production of inflammatory cytokines that are needed for tumor progression. In addition, he will describe a novel mechanism through which inflammatory cytokines can inhibit expression of a critical suppressor of metastasis and thereby enhance the metastatic spread of prostate cancer.

About the speaker

Dr Michael Karin is currently a Distinguished Professor of Pharmacology at the University of California at San Diego. He is a leading expert in the field of signal transduction, gene regulation, and cancer development. In the past decade, he has been listed several times among one of the top-ten most-cited biologists worldwide by the Institute for Scientific Information (ISI). In 2000, he was ranked first worldwide by ISI for having 15 most-cited molecular biology and genetic research papers published between 1994 and 1998. Dr Karin has received numerous awards including the Oppenheimer Award for Excellence in Research from the Endocrine Society, The Herman Beerman Lectureship from the Society of Investigative Dermatology, C.E.R.I.E.S. Research Award for Physiology or Biology of the Skin, The Grossman Lectureship form the American Gastroenterology Association and an American Cancer Society Research Professorship in 1999. Dr Karin was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 2005. Dr Karin also serves on editorial boards of several high-impact journals (e.g., Molecular Cell) and was cofounder of Signal Pharmaceuticals (currently Celgene).

The seminar is free and open to the public. Seating is on a first-come, first-served basis.

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