Senior Scientist
Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine
Dana Borcherding is a senior scientist in the Hirbe lab at Washington University in St. Louis. She obtained her Ph.D. in Cellular and Molecular Biology from the University of Cincinnati. Her previous studies focused on hormone and cytokine signaling in adipose tissue and breast cancer. Currently, she investigates the role of TYK2 in the pathogenesis of malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumors (MPNST), aggressive sarcomas with poor prognosis. Composed of neoplastic Schwann cells, these cancers recur in ~50% of individuals, and most people die within five years of diagnosis, despite surgical resection, radiation, and chemotherapy. Thus, there is an urgent need to identify novel therapeutic targets. Prior work from the Hirbe laboratory identified TYK2 genetic mutations in a subset of MPNSTs and showed that knockdown of the TYK2 gene in MPNST cell lines decreased proliferation and increased apoptosis. Furthermore, genetic knockdown of TYK2 in murine MPNST cells resulted in reduced tumor burden of subcutaneous and metastatic tumor models. The goals of this project are to determine the molecular mechanisms of TYK2 action in MPNST cells and evaluate TYK2 as a prognostic biomarker for MPNST in patient tumor samples. The overall aim is to develop more efficacious therapeutic options for patients with MPNST to improve patient outcomes and survival.
