WARF TECHNOLOGIES

A UW-Madison researcher has developed an animal model for bile duct and pancreatic cancers caused by the fusion gene DNAJ-PKAc. He utilized bile duct or pancreas cells and inserted the fusion gene at a relevant chromosomal location using the Cre-Lox system for gene expression. While the cells don’t begin as tumor cells, the gene fusion expression turns them into tumor cells, and the resulting cancer develops in a physiologically relevant manner. This research tool may become the gold standard to study cancer progression and to develop new therapeutic strategies to fight these cancers.

• Research Tools : Animal & disease models