Named Grant:

The ICRF – Redhill Foundation Project Grant

About the Investigator:

Dr. Rosin-Arbesfeld’s research focuses on molecular and biochemical aspects of the Wnt signal transduction pathway. She received her B.Sc., M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees at Tel Aviv University, and carried out postdoctoral research at Britain’s Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, UK. She is currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Clinical Microbiology and Immunology at the Sackler Faculty of Medicine at Tel Aviv University.

About the Research:

Most cancer cells have undergone changes in one or more pathways that signal cells to limit proliferation. One of those most commonly deregulated is the Wnt signaling pathway that enables cells to communicate via well-characterized receptors on the cell surface. Dysregulation of the Wnt pathway is implicated in the pathogenesis of various cancer types, including solid tumors and hematological malignancies. Studies that have connected the expression and function of the Wnt pathway to solid tumors, especially colorectal cancer, have led to development of a number of therapeutics. However, not much is known about how the Wnt signaling pathway functions in the bloodstream. This lack of knowledge limits opportunities to treat hematological malignancies, such as leukemia and lymphoma, using therapeutics targeted to the Wnt pathway.

The goal of Dr. Rosin-Arbesfeld’s research is to determine how the Wnt pathway promotes development of hematological malignancies. Her laboratory has demonstrated that mature white blood cells secrete factors critical to Wnt signaling, and that these factors are active in the bloodstream. They propose to investigate the specific class of cells that secrete these factors, to establish how these factors function, and to identify the cells that are affected by them. Successful completion of this project will increase our understanding of how hematological malignancies occur, and will lead to new strategies to treat hematological cancers with Wnt-targeted therapies.