Biomedicine

Glutamate carboxypeptidase II (GCPII), also known as prostate specific membrane antigen (PSMA) is expressed in the brain, prostate and jejunum. In the prostate, its expression is elevated in metastatic prostate carcinoma. GCPII is also expressed in the cancer-associated neovasculature of most solid tumors and represents thus a very promising target for cancer diagnostics, imaging and specific anticancer drug delivery. In order to elucidate the role of GCPII in cancer development, we will identify and characterize putative ligand or binding partner of GCPII in selected tumor cells and conditioned media, and analyze the contribution of GCPII for tumor development using xenografts of human tumors in mice.