Instituto de Medicina Predictiva i Personalizada del Cáncer (IMPPC) 

Widespread genetic alterations are a common feature of most colorectal cancers. While specific recurrent alterations may reveal the involvement of a gene or set of genes in the biology of the disease, the cumulated genomic damage is likely to reflect the biological history of the neoplastic cells. Furthermore, the functional implications behind many of these genetic changes may show the evolutionary potential of the neoplastic cells. High levels of genomic damage usually appear associated with increased aggressiveness in colorectal cancer, and the use of different assessments of genomic damage as independent prognostic factors has been proposed. Therefore, appropriate definition of the extent of cumulated alterations and their functional consequences may be of interest in the understanding and management of cancer. Investigations in our laboratory are addressed to the molecular characterization of human colorectal cancer progression. Main areas of work include (1) Development of methodologies for genetic and epigenetic profiling of human tumors, (2) Identification of the mechanisms underlying tumor progression, and (3) Genetic analysis of tumors to discover new markers with diagnostic, prognostic and therapeutic applications.

MAP LAB (MA Peinado, IMPPC)
Miguel A. Peinado
Institut de Medicina Predictiva i Personalitzada del Càncer (IMPPC)
Crta Can Ruti, Camí de les Escoles s/n 08916 Badalona, Barcelona Spain
tel (34) 934978694 fax (34) 934978697
map@imppc.org
www.imppc.org

Personal
Group members (December 2007) Berta Martin, Inés Cebola, Jairo Rodriguez, Laura Vives, Mar Muñoz, Marta Forn, Mireia Jordà, Mònica Suelves, Regina Mayor, Victor Barrera.

Publications

- Frigola J, Solé X, Paz MF, Moreno V, Esteller M, Capellà G, Peinado MA. DNA hypermethylation and hypomethylation signatures in colorectal cancer. Human Molec Genet, 14:319-326, 2005.
- Morales C, Ribas M, Aiza G, Peinado MA. Genetic determinants of methotrexate responsiveness and resistance in colon cancer cells. Oncogene, 24:6842-6847, 2005.
- Frigola J, Muñoz M, Clark SJ, Moreno V, Capellà G, Peinado MA. Hypermethylation of the prostacyclin synthase (PTGIS) promoter is a frequent event in colorectal cancer and associated with aneuploidy. Oncogene, 24:7320-7326, 2005.
- Masramon L, Vendrell E, Tarafa G, Capellà G, Miró R, Ribas M, Peinado MA. Genetic instability and divergence of clonal populations in colon cancer cells in vitro. J Cell Sci, 119:1477-1482, 2006.
- Frigola J, Song J, Stirzaker C, Hinshelwood RA, Peinado MA, Clark SJ. Epigenetic remodeling in colorectal cancer results in coordinate gene suppression across an entire chromosome band. Nat Genetics, 38:540-549, 2006.
- Rodriguez J, Frigola J, Vendrell E, Risques RA, Fraga MF, Morales C, Moreno V, Esteller M, Capellà G, Ribas M, Peinado MA. Chromosomal instability correlates with genome-wide DNA demethylation in human primary colorectal cancers. Cancer Res, 66:8462-8468, 2006.
- Wang Y, Jordà M, Jones PL, Maleszka R, Ling X, Robertson HM, Mizzen CA, Peinado MA, Robinson GE. Functional CpG methylation system in a social insect. Science, 314:645-647, 2006.
- Gómez-Díaz E, Gonzalez-Solís J, Peinado MA, Page DM. Lack of host-dependent genetic structure in ectoparasites of Calonectris shearwaters. Molecular Ecology, 16:5204-5215, 2007.
- Rodriguez J, Vives L, Jordà M, Morales C, Muñoz M, Vendrell E, Peinado MA. Genome-wide tracking of unmethylated DNA Alu repeats in normal and cancer cells. Nucleic Acids Res, 36:770-784, 2008.