Laboratories > Dr. Marja Nevalainen

Laboratories - Dr. Marja Nevalainen

Past Research:

Dr. Nevalainen's research accomplishments include the development and optimization of a long-term 3D organ culture system under serum-free conditions for normal and malignant rodent and human prostate tissue. She demonstrated that 1) prolactin (Prl) is a mitogen and survival factor for normal and malignant human and rodent prostate epithelium, 2) Prl is locally produced by normal and malignant prostate cells, 3) Stat5 is the key signaling molecule that mediates the effects of Prl in normal and malignant prostate, and 4) that Stat5 is a crucial survival protein for prostate cancer cells in culture and for prostate tumor growth in nude mice.

Ongoing Work:

Dr. Nevalainen's research program focuses o¬n identifying protein kinase signaling pathways that mediate androgen-independent survival and metastatic dissemination of prostate cancer with special focus o¬n Stat transcription factors. Recent work from Dr. Nevalainen’s laboratory shows that activation of Stat5 in primary prostate cancer predicts early disease recurrence. Moreover, recent results show that Stat5 transcriptionally synergizes with androgen receptor in prostate cancer cells. The current focus of Dr. Nevalainen’s research program is o¬n identification of the molecular mechanisms in how Stat5 contributes to androgen-independent growth of prostate cancer, the individual roles of Stat5a vs. Stat5b as survival factors for prostate cancer cells, testing whether Stat5 inhibition sensitizes prostate cancer cells for radiation and chemotherapy. One important area of the research in the Nevalainen laboratory is focused on transcription factors Stat3 and Stat5 in metastatic progression of prostate cancer. Dr. Nevalainen aims to use the Jak-Stat5 pathway as a molecular target to establish approaches to induce effective death of prostate cancer cells. The long-term objective of her research is to develop novel pharmaceutical strategies for prostate cancer therapy.