Translational Genitourinary Cancer Research

Principal Investigators

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Prof. Lukas Bubendorf

Leitender Arzt und Fachbereichsleiter Zytopathologie

Pathologie

Tel. +41 61 328 78 51

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Dr. Clémentine Le Magnen

Forschungsgruppenleiterin

Urology, Pathology, Department of Biomedicine

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Prof. Cyrill Rentsch

Leitender Arzt

Urologie

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Prof. Helge Seifert

Chefarzt

Urologie

Group Members

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Michele Garioni

PhD student

Urology, Pathology, Department of Biomedicine

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Romuald Parmentier

Postdoctoral Research Scientist

Urology, Pathology, Department of Biomedicine

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Heike Püschel

Leitende Study Nurse

Urologie

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PD Dr. Tatjana Vlajnic

Oberärztin

Pathologie

Tel. +41 61 328 54 59

Our Science

Being a joint venture between the Institute of Pathology and the Department of Urology at the University Hospital Basel, our laboratory mainly focuses on prostate and bladder cancer translational research. We have assembled a multidisciplinary team of investigators to advance knowledge in the following topics.

Prostate cancer (PCa) is the most diagnosed cancer type and a leading cause of cancer-related deaths in men. PCa is often multifocal and can follow various clinical paths from indolent disease causing little/no harm, to aggressive disease, which is not curable. Thus, major clinical needs remain (1) to identify refined prognostic and predictive biomarkers for a better management of the disease and (2) to elucidate mechanisms driving tumor progression and treatment resistance (i.e., castration resistance) in order to improve the outcome of patients with lethal PCa. In this framework, our laboratory aims at gaining a better understanding of factors driving tumor heterogeneity, cancer progression and treatment resistance.

 

Our research primary relies on the use of patient-derived material and involves genomic, phenotypic, and other molecular analyses of longitudinal tumor samples. Using this comprehensive approach, we aim at identifying cellular and molecular factors associated with progression of the disease and to investigate their functional, prognostic, and clinical relevance in PCa.

 

In this context, we particularly focus on studying the contribution of factors associated with stemness and cellular plasticity to tumor progression and castration-resistance. In parallel, our research also involves the development and characterization of clinically relevant models derived from patient material (See Figure). These models represent promising tools to study the development of the disease as well as to dissect mechanisms underlying treatment response and treatment resistance.

Medizinische Darstellung

Patient-derived organoids. (A) Organoids derived from a patient sample after 15 days in culture (top: low power, bottom: high power). (B) Histological and phenotypic analyses of the patient sample (top panel) and its derived organoid line (bottom panel). Both contain proliferating cells (Ki67+) and exhibit a luminal-like phenotype as demonstrated by expression of the prostate luminal marker NKX3.1 and the absence of expression of the basal marker P63. Scale bar: 20 µm

Bladder cancer is the most common cancer of the urinary tract and can be divided in two major groups: non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC) and muscle-invasive bladder cancer (MIBC). NMIBC and MIBC are associated with different clinical outcome, which may be attributed to their distinct molecular signatures. Adjuvant treatment of NMIBC using intravesical Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) after transurethral resection was introduced more than 40 years ago. While BCG therapy remains the standard of care, critical parameters influencing treatment outcome are still poorly understood. Stemming from these clinical challenges, the research in our laboratory focuses on (1) exploring clonal heterogeneity and tumor evolution and (2) delineating mechanisms underlying resistance to BCG and identifying predictive biomarkers of therapy response.

Current:

 

  • Servant, R., Garioni, M., Vlajnic, T., et al. Prostate cancer patient-derived organoids: detailed outcome from a prospective cohort of 81 clinical specimens. J Pathol. 2021
  • Federer-Gsponer JR, Müller DC, Zellweger T, et al. Patterns of stemness-associated markers in the development of castration-resistant prostate cancer. Prostate. 2020 80, 1108-1117
  • Hench IB, Cathomas R, Costa L, et al. Analysis of AR/ARV7 Expression in Isolated Circulating Tumor Cells of Patients with Metastatic Castration-Resistant Prostate Cancer (SAKK 08/14 IMPROVE Trial). Cancers (Basel). 2019 11, 1099
  • Dugas SG, Müller DC, Le Magnen C, et al. Immunocytochemistry for ARID1A as a potential biomarker in urine cytology of bladder cancer. Cancer Cytopathol. 2019 127, 578-585 
  • Federer-Gsponer, J. R.*, Quintavalle, C.*, Muller, D. C. et al. Delineation of human prostate cancer evolution identifies chromothripsis as a polyclonal event and FKBP4 as a potential driver of castration resistance. J Pathol. 2018 245, 74-84. * Equal contribution
  • Le Magnen, C., Virk, R. K., Dutta, A. et al. Cooperation of loss of NKX3.1 and inflammation in prostate cancer initiation. Dis Model Mech. 2018 11.
  • Le Magnen, C., Shen, M. M. & Abate-Shen, C. Lineage Plasticity in Cancer Progression and Treatment. Annu Rev Cancer Biol. 2018 2, 271-289.
  • Rentsch, C. A., Derre, L., Dugas, S. G. et al. Building on a Solid Foundation: Enhancing Bacillus Calmette-Guerin Therapy. Eur Urol Focus. 2018 4, 485-493.
  • Navone, N. M., van Weerden, W. M., Vessella, R. L. et al. Movember GAP1 PDX project: An international collection of serially transplantable prostate cancer patient-derived xenograft (PDX) models. Prostate. 2018 78, 1262-1282.
  • Muller, D. C., Ramo, M., Naegele, K. et al. Donor-derived, metastatic urothelial cancer after kidney transplantation associated with a potentially oncogenic BK polyomavirus. J Pathol. 2018 244, 265-270.
  • Leighton, X., Bera, A., Eidelman, O. et al. Tissue microarray analysis delineate potential prognostic role of Annexin A7 in prostate cancer progression. PLoS One. 2018 13, e0205837.

Earlier:

 

  • Zou, M., Toivanen, R., Mitrofanova, A. et al. Transdifferentiation as a Mechanism of Treatment Resistance in a Mouse Model of Castration-Resistant Prostate Cancer. Cancer Discov. 2017 7, 736-749.
  • Dutta, A.*, Le Magnen, C.*, Mitrofanova, A. et al. Identification of an NKX3.1-G9a-UTY transcriptional regulatory network that controls prostate differentiation. Science. 2016 352, 1576-1580.* Equal contribution
  • Le Magnen, C.*, Dutta, A.* & Abate-Shen, C. Optimizing mouse models for precision cancer prevention. Nat Rev Cancer. 2016 16, 187-196. * Equal contribution
  • Wetterauer, C.*, Vlajnic, T.*, Schuler, J. et al. Early development of human lymphomas in a prostate cancer xenograft program using triple knock-out immunocompromised mice. Prostate. 2015 75, 585-592. * Equal contribution
  • Rentsch, C. A., Birkhauser, F. D., Biot, C. et al. Bacillus Calmette-Guerin strain differences have an impact on clinical outcome in bladder cancer immunotherapy. Eur Urol. 2014 66, 677-688.
  • Gsponer, J. R., Braun, M., Scheble, V. J. et al. ERG rearrangement and protein expression in the progression to castration-resistant prostate cancer. Prostate Cancer Prostatic Dis. 2014 17, 126-131.
  • Le Magnen, C., Bubendorf, L., Rentsch, C. A. et al. Characterization and clinical relevance of ALDHbright populations in prostate cancer. Clin Cancer Res. 2013 19, 5361-5371.
  • Biot, C., Rentsch, C. A., Gsponer, J. R. et al. Preexisting BCG-specific T cells improve intravesical immunotherapy for bladder cancer. Sci Transl Med. 2012 4, 137ra172.