Dr Janet Risk

School of Dental Sciences
University of Liverpool
Liverpool

Understanding the genetic causes of oesophageal cancer

Dr Janet Risk, based at the University of Liverpool, is finding out how a molecule called cytoglobin is involved in oesophageal cancer. She’s carrying out innovative experiments on cells in the lab to understand how different amounts of cytoglobin affect the growth and spread of this disease.

People with a rare genetic skin disorder called tylosis have a much higher than normal chance of developing oesophageal cancer. Dr Risk discovered that the region of DNA that’s altered in people with tylosis contains the genetic instructions for making cytoglobin. This suggests that cytoglobin plays a role in causing oesophageal cancer.

They've also shown that oesophageal cells from people with tylosis have much lower levels of cytoglobin than normal. And some lung cancers and head and neck cancers have low levels of the molecule. So Dr Risk believes that cytoglobin has an important role in healthy cells, which is somehow disrupted in oesophageal cancer.

Dr Risk is using genetic experiments to study the complex machinery of the cell and to find out exactly what cytoglobin does. This should uncover how and why cytoglobin levels are changed in oesophageal cancer. Dr Risk’s work will give scientists a better understanding of oesophageal cancer biology, and could lead to new ways to treat the disease.