The Laboratory of Cancer Cell Biology (LCCB) of the Institute of Biochemistry and Experimental Oncology, is together with Clinic of Neurosurgery and Neurooncology of the Faculty and Military University Hospital Prague and the Proton Therapy Center Prague an integral part of the Neurooncology Center of the First Faculty of Medicine, Charles University. In addition, LCCB participates in the Laboratory of Theranostics, a joint laboratory of the First Faculty of Medicine, Charles University and the Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry (IOCB) of the Czech Academy of Sciences.
Mission
Unraveling pathogenetically important processes that drive brain tumor progression.
Vision
Identify therapeutically or diagnostically relevant molecular targets in primary and secondary brain tumors.
The laboratory focuses on the studies of the microenvironment of primary and secondary brain tumors, with specific emphasis on the function of stromal mesenchymal cells and their role in tumor neovascularization, local immunosuppression and tumor cell invasiveness. The aim of these studies is to identify new molecular targets translatable to therapeutic and diagnostic approaches.
Primary research areas of our laboratory include:
· Effects of cancer-associated fibroblast on various cellular populations in glioblastoma and brain metastasis microenvironment, namely on immune and endothelial cells.
· Role of extracellular matrix in biological characteristics of glioblastoma.
· Evaluation of candidate therapeutic compounds and visualization probes, targeting molecules of interest within the cancer microenvironment.
Methodologically, we use a broad portfolio of cell and molecular biology methods, advanced imaging methods, confocal microscopy, proteomic approaches and a range of 2D and 3D cellular and animal models. A broad portfolio of patient-derived stromal and cancer cell lines from primary and secondary brain tumors and human biopsy material is available.
LCCB belongs among the founding members of the Neurooncological section of the Czech Oncological Society of the Czech Medical Association.
LCCB collaborates with several partners in the field of both basic and applied research (e. g. Department of neurosurgery of the Na Homolce Hospital; Institute of Anatomy of the First Faculty of Medicine; Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry of the Academy of Science of Czech Republic; Faculty of Sciences of Charles University; Centre of Advanced Preclinical Imaging of the First Faculty of Medicine; Institute of Macromolecular chemistry, Institute of Experimental Medicine; Department of Medical Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard School of Medicine; Stanford University, Department of Pharmaceutical sciences, University of Antwerp etc.).