Research & Initiatives

Translation programs in cancer

We have identified that RNA helicase eIF4A regulates the translation of key oncogenes such as MYC, KRAS, and this can be readily targeted by using eIF4A inhibitors. KRAS and MYC activation feeds to mRNA translation programs conducive to cancer progression and shaping the tumor microenvironment. The Singh Lab is investigating the mechanism of mRNA translation and its contribution in the gene expression outputs and functional proteome due to alternate translation start site selection in cancer and microenvironment.

 

Aberrant translation products in cancer immunity

Our work has shown that aberrant translation products are frequently generated upon oncogene activation and alter the protein form of key immune receptors such as CD19. Interestingly, we observed that a significant fraction of translation is activated from upstream open reading frames upon oncogene activation resulting in the generation of “new short peptides of unknown function”. We continue to study the role of these short peptides and aberrant translation products in cancer signaling and cancer immunity.