I am pleased to provide an information on current research activities of my group on the following pages. We appreciate your interest in our work and want to present ourselves, our research and recent achievements.
The focus of our research remains to be the role of cytokines, in particular interleukin-6 (IL-6) in prostate cancer development and progression. One of our aims is to improve understanding of the role of suppressors of cytokine signaling (SOCS) in prostate carcinogenesis. Recently, Martin and colleagues were able to show that SOCS-3 is an important inhibitor of apoptosis in several prostate cancer cell lines. Martin´s work was published in Cancer Research and awarded by ARTP. In contrast to SOCS-3, work of Hannes and colleagues published in the American Journal of Pathology showed that another member of SOCS family, SOCS-1, may act as a tumor suppressor. SOCS proteins were initially considered as tumor suppressors, but the data obtained in prostate cancer indicate that the regulation may be much more complex. We congratulate Ilaria and Frédéric on their recent study which appears in Endocrine Related Cancer. They were able to clarify the role of the soluble IL-6 receptor in prostate cancer thus helping in interpretation of consistent clinical findings.
In 2009, Ph.D. students Holger Erb, Julia Höfer and medical student Philipp Höschele joined my group. We wish them a great time and a success in preparing their degree. It was a pleasure to have Kamilla Malinowska´s successful thesis defence in February this year. Special thanks to our wonderful Chief Postdocs Fred Santer and Martin Puhr who provided indispensable help to everyone in the group. We also thank our grant sponsors Austrian Science Foundation FWF, European Union, and Centocor.
A highlight of the year was our retreat in Igls in August. We greatly appreciate suggestions and input from Karen Knudsen, Jefferson University Philadelphia. These days in Igls are memorable and each group member considers it as a great stimulus for future career.
