Colloquium Seminar Series: Dr. Etka Khurana, PhD (Weill Cornell Medicine)
Speaker: Dr. Ekta Khurana
Institution: Weill Cornell Medicine
Title: Non-neuroendocrine lineage plasticity in prostate cancer
Date: Monday, March 31st, 2025
Time: 4:10 PM EST
Host: Dr. Juri Reimand
Location: University College RM 161
Abstract:
In cancer, lineage plasticity as a mechanism of treatment resistance is a huge clinical challenge. In lineage plasticity, the tumor cells start to depend on different transcriptional regulators than the original. In castration resistant prostate cancer (CRPC), this is demonstrated by lineage plasticity away from androgen receptor dependence. By profiling the chromatin landscape and transcriptomes of tumors using patient-derived models, we identified four subtypes of CRPC. I will discuss the identification of these subtypes in patients using tissue RNA-seq and cell-free DNA whole-genome sequencing data; identifying the genomic variants that facilitate the transition between these epigenomic subtypes; and designing approaches for their therapeutic targeting.