Share to Facebook Share to Twitter Share to LinkedIn Pinterest Email

Einstein Image: Lynch Syndrome

Einstein Image: Lynch Syndrome

By Larry Katzenstein
Blue, lime green, purple and red blotches indicate a drug's effect on cancer stem cells. Image courtesy of Kyeryoung Lee, Ph.D., a research associate in Dr. Edelmann’s lab

Lynch syndrome is an inherited condition that greatly increases the risk for intestinal cancer. In this image, the drug rapamycin has eliminated differentiated tumor cells from the small intestine of a Lynch syndrome mouse model, but two types of cancer stem cells have resisted rapamycin: Lgr5+ (green) and Bmil+ (purple) stem cells. (Also visible are Lgr5+ stem cell–associated Paneth cells, in red.)

Tumors return when rapamycin therapy is stopped—and Lgr5+ cells, in particular, are suspected of regenerating tumors. Winfried Edelmann, Ph.D., and colleagues are studying a drug that makes Lgr5+ cells sensitive to rapamycin by inhibiting the membrane protein MDR1 (multi-drug resistance 1), which pumps out rapamycin and other anticancer drugs. Dr. Edelmann is a professor of cell biology and of genetics and the Joseph and Gertrud Buchler Chair in Transgenic Medicine at Einstein.

Share to Facebook Share to Twitter Share to LinkedIn Share to Pinterest Email

More From Einstein

Students Advocate for Abortion Access
First-Generation College Students Share Stories
Class of 2026 White Coat Ceremony
Scientists Honor Pioneering Researcher
Searching for Next Generation of HIV Therapies

Content

Highlights
Features
Campus News
Research Notes
Motivations: Donors & Alumni

Share

Share to Facebook Share to Twitter Share to LinkedIn Email

Past Issues

Download Magazine

Search

Subscribe