Ab-Protein Sandwich Arrays to Monitor Levels of Dkk1 in Cancer Patients
Faculty Mentor(s)
Dr. Brian Haab, VARI Laboratory of Cancer Immunodiagnostics
Dr. Matthew Steensma, VARI Laboratory of Musculoskeletal Oncology
Document Type
Poster
Event Date
4-13-2012
Abstract
The progression of osteosarcoma disease is believed to be influenced by upregulated Wnt/β-Catenin signaling. The process involving secreted Wnt inhibitors and their function in this pathway has not been fully examined. Abnormally high levels of Dkk-1 protein have been found in patients with osteosarcoma. A member of the Dickkopf family, Dkk-1 protein is a negative regulator that is known to play a central role in the regulation of bone formation and bone resorption and appears to be directly related to disease burden. For these reasons, we established a protocol to measure levels of Dkk-1 in blood serum through optimization of a high-throughput, Dkk-1 immunoassay for analysis of samples obtained from human subjects. The purpose of this work was to develop a clinically relevant diagnostic tool to allow levels of Dkk1 protein to be monitored in post-treatment osteosarcoma patients. Future work involves the collection of sufficient quantities of serum from breast cancer patients, as well as serum from osteosarcoma patients during various stages of the treatment and recovery period, for preliminary validation of our clinical tool.
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Comments
This work was supported by the Van Andel Institute through the Frederik and Lena Meijer Student Internship Program.