Welcome

The Aaronson laboratory is focused on cancer gene discovery and function with the goal of identifying new targets for therapy. Topics investigated involve aberrant growth factor and receptor signaling, Wnt and Hippo developmental pathways deregulated in cancer, and the p53 tumor suppressor gene. Discoveries by the lab including genes encoding PDGFR alpha, erbB2, erbB3, novel FGFR isoforms, and HGF as the Met ligand have led to more than a dozen FDA approved therapies and others in clinical development. KGF/FGF7 identified and molecularly cloned by the lab became a treatment for cancer therapy associated mucositis. Recent research discoveries include the identification of a Wnt autocrine mechanism in some human malignancies, the role of chemokine production by inflammatory breast cancers to its unique in vivo phenotype,  new gain-of-function mechanisms through which p53 missense mutations contribute to human malignancies, and proof of concept for therapeutic targeting of certain p53 GOF mutants.