GCI Research Day 2022

Abstract: Plasticity and heterogeneity complicate cancer treatment as they foster drug resistance. One way to tackle this problem is to deduce all the mutational heterogeneity and find druggable nodes for each state, which is complex. Another approach is to uncover higher order rules that govern cancer behavior and tap those states for weaknesses. In that regard, we recently discovered that all cancers can be subdivided into just two classes. These binary classes are defined by opposite expression and opposite pro- or anti-cancer effects of the transcriptional coactivator YAP and its paralog TAZ. I will discuss the contrasting behaviour and vulnerabilities of the binary cancer classes, which has broad clinical relevance, and the mechanism underlying the opposite pro- or anti-cancer effects of YAP expression. Cancers exploit the differential drug sensitivities of YAP^off vs. YAP^on cancers to switch classes and resist therapy, and I will discuss on-going work to understand when, how and in which direction cancers make this switch, with the long-term goal of blocking this lethal process.

Please feel free to email marina.fukano [at] mail.mcgill.ca if you have any additional questions. We are looking forward to seeing you all there!

See the attachment for the Program Schedule