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Pirjo Laakkonen (Ph.D, Docent) is a principal investigator at the Molecular Cancer Biology
Research Program, Biomedicum Helsinki, University of Helsinki. Finland. Dr. Laakkonen’s group is
focusing on identification of metastasis/invasion -associated molecules using
phage display
technology and comparative proteomic profiling by using two different
cancer models: cultured
metastatic vs. non-metastatic human melanoma cells and mouse models mimicking human glioblastoma.
She is an expert in screening small peptide libraries and has identified several peptides that
target premalignant lesions and different types of tumour tissues. Furthermore, her work has
resulted in the first peptide that targets tumour lymphatic vessels, is able to inhibit tumour
growth, and is a first systemically delivered peptide used in tumour imaging.
Kari Alitalo (MD, Ph.D, Prof.) is a director of the Molecular Cancer Biology Research
Program, Biomedicum Helsinki, University of Helsinki. Finland. Prof. Alitalo is the recipient
of several prestigious research awards and honours, holds number of editorial board memberships
and trustee positions, and he is the leading expert on lymphangiogenesis research in the world.
The main interests of the Dr. Kari Alitalo's group is to understand the mechanisms of development
of blood vessels from preexisting ones in a process called angiogenesis and to learn analogous
mechanisms of lymphangiogenesis. They currently study angiogenesis and lymphatic vessels particularly
in malignant tumours, focusing on the growth factor-receptor signalling and growth factor-mediated
endothelial cell reprogramming. Most significantly, they have found that VEGF-C overexpression leads
to lymphangiogenesis, intralymphatic tumour growth and lymph node metastasis in several tumour models.
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Most relevant publications:
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2002. A tumour-homing peptide with a targeting specificity related to lymphatic vessels.
Laakkonen, P., Porkka, K., Hoffman, J.A. and Ruoslahti, E.
Nat. Med., 8:751-755.
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Stage-specific vascular markers revealed by phage display in a mouse model of pancreatic islet tumourigenesis.
Joyce, J.*, Laakkonen, P.*, Bernasconi, M., Berger, G., Ruoslahti, E. and Hanahan, D. 2003.
Cancer Cell, 4:393-403. *Equal contribution.
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2004. Anti-tumour activity of a homing peptide that targets tumour lymphatics and tumour cells.
Laakkonen, P., Akerman, M., Biliran, H., Yang, M., Ferrer, F., Karpanen, T., Hoffman, R. and Ruoslahti, E.
Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 101:9381-9386.
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2007. Vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 3 (VEGFR-3) is involved in tumour angiogenesis and growth.
Laakkonen, P., Waltari, M., Holopainen, T., Takahashi, T., Pytowski, B., Steiner, P., Hicklin, D., Persaud, K., Tonra, J.R., Witte, L. and Alitalo, K.
Cancer Res. 67:593-599.
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1997. Hyperplasia of lymphatic vessels in VEGF-C transgenic mice.
Jeltsch, M., Kaipainen, A., Joukov, V., Meng, X., Lakso, M., Rauvala, H., Swartz, M., Fukumura, D., Jain, RK. and Alitalo, K.
Science 276:1423-5.
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2004. Vascular endothelial growth factor C is required for sprouting of the first lymphatic vessels from embryonic veins.
Karkkainen, MJ., Haiko, P., Sainio, K., Partanen, J., Taipale, J., Petrova, TV., Jeltsch, M., Jackson, DG., Talikka, M., Rauvala, H., Betsholtz, C. and Alitalo, K.
Nat Immunol. 5:74-80.
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2004. Preexisting lymphatic endothelium but not endothelial progenitor cells are essential for tumour lymphangiogenesis and lymphatic metastasis.
He, Y., Rajantie, I., Ilmonen, M., Makinen, T., Karkkainen, MJ., Haiko, P., Salven, P. and Alitalo, K.
Cancer Res. 64:3737-40.
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