Winnie Lo

Ph.D Candidate, Department of Molecular & Medical Genetics

The importance of Indian Hedgehog Signaling is Osteosarcoma

The Hedgehog (Hh) signaling pathway is crucial in many essential processes during embryonic development as well as bone development through endochondral ossification. Deregulation of the Hh pathway has been demonstrated in numerous cancers. Osteosarcoma (OSA) is the most common primary bone cancer in children and adolescence. It is a highly aggressive tumour. While, the combination of chemotherapy and surgery has significantly improved the survival rate of patients, the overall long term disease-free survival is still low. Unfortunately, there has been little improvement in drug treatment over the past 20 years. Therefore, my research goal is to examine the involvement of deregulated hedgehog signaling in OSA, as well as investigate the potential of Hh antagonists as novel therapeutics to improve OSA treatment. I have demonstrated that many key components of the pathway are overexpressed in OSA tumour specimen. The effect of pathway antagonists on tumour growth are being studied in cell culture system, and will be further investigated using animal models.