Coppe Lab

Research focus

NIH R01 · 2024

Collagen Signaling in Pancreatic Cancer

Abstract Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma (PDA) is the 3rd most common cause of cancer death in the United States. One of the primary pathological features of PDA is the dense network of fibrillar collagens (COLs), including COL1 and COL11, both of which have been shown to be associated with PDA progression. Collagens signal via specific receptors on the surface of PDA cells, of which the Discoidin Domain Receptor 1 (DDR1) is a unique collagen receptor tyrosine kinase (RTK). We have found that ablation of DDR1 inhibits disease progression and metastasis whereas overexpression enhances these processes in mouse models of PDA, suggesting that DDR1 is a major promoter of malignancy. The…

From the public funding record at NIH RePORTER. Describes the funded project, not the reviews below.