Carol A. Lange, Ph.D.

Associate Professor

Department of Medicine

University of Colorado - Boulder, 1991, Ph.D.

lange047@tc.umn.edu

612-626-0621 - office
612-624-1971 - lab

 

Research Interests:

Signal Transduction in Breast Cancer

Dr. Lange's laboratory is focused on the study of cross-talk between peptide growth factors and steroid hormone receptors in human breast cancer cells. The ovarian steroid hormones, estrogen and progesterone, as well as growth factor receptor tyrosine kinase-initiated signaling pathways are required for normal breast development, and these pathways also interact to influence breast tumorigenesis and breast cancer progression. Ongoing research projects in the laboratory include the study of the role of protein tyrosine kinases and mitogen acitivated protein kinase (MAPK) cascades in human breast cancer cell proliferation and survival, and their contribution to mechanisms of steroid hormone resistance in human breast cancer. In order to study problems in breast cancer cell biology, techniques in signal transduction, endocrinology, protein biochemistry and molecular biology are employed. Understanding the role of signaling cross-talk in cell growth control will provide useful information for the development of better strategies for the treatment of breast and other hormonally influenced and/or epithelial cell-derived cancers.

Selected Recent Publications:

  • Lange CA, Gioeli D, Hammes SR, Marker PC. 2006. Integration of Rapid Signaling Events with Steroid Hormone Receptor Action in Breast and Prostate Cancer.
     Annu Rev Physiol. 2006 Oct 12; [Epub ahead of print]
  • Faivre E, Skildum A, Pierson-Mullany L, Lange CA. 2005. Integration of progesterone receptor mediated rapid signaling and nuclear actions in breast cancer cell models: role of mitogen-activated protein kinases and cell cycle regulators. Steroids. 70(5-7):418-26.  
  • Zhang P, Ostrander JH, Faivre EJ, Olsen A, Fitzsimmons D, Lange CA. 2005.  Regulated association of protein kinase B/Akt with breast tumor kinase. J Biol Chem. 280(3):1982-91.
  • Pierson-Mullany LK, Lange CA. 2004. Phosphorylation of progesterone receptor serine 400 mediates ligand-independent transcriptional activity in response to activation of cyclin-dependent protein kinase 2.  Mol Cell Biol. 24(24):10542-57.  
  • Lange CA. 2004. Making Sense of Cross-Talk Between Steroid Hormone Receptors and Intracellular Signaling Pathways: Who Will Have the Last Word? Mol Endo. 18(2):269-78.
  • Pierson-Mullany, L, Skildum, A, Faivre, E, and Lange, CA. 2003. Cross-talk Between Growth Factor and Steroid Receptor Signaling Pathways: Implications for Breast Cancer Cell Growth. Breast Cancer, 18:21-31.
  • Qiu, M and Lange, CA. 2003. MAP Kinases Couple Multiple Functions of Human Progesterone Receptors: Degradation, Transcriptional Synergy, and Nuclear Localization. J. Steroid Receptor Biochem. Mol. Biol. 85: 147-157.
  • Qiu, M, Olsen, A, Faivre, E, Horwitz, KB, and Lange, CA. 2003. Mitogen Activated Protein Kinase Regulates Nuclear Association of Human Progesterone Receptors. Mol. Endo. 17: 628-642.
  • Shen, T, Horwitz, KB, and Lange, CA. 2001. Transcriptional Hyper-Activity of Human Progesterone Receptors is Coupled to Their Ligand-Dependent Down-Regulation by Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase-Dependent Phosphorylation of Serine 294. Mol. Cell. Biol. 21: 6122-6131.
  • Lange, C., T Shen, and KB Horwitz. 2000. Phosphorylation of human progesterone receptors at serine 295 by mitogen activated protein kinase signals their degradation by the 26S proteasome. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 97:1032-1037.
  • Lange, C.A., J.K. Richer, and K.B. Horwitz. 1999. Hypothesis: Progesterone primes breast cancer cells for cross-talk with proliferative or antiproliferative signals. Mol. Endo. 13:829-836.
  • Lange, CA, JK Richer, T Shen, and KB Horwitz. 1998. Convergence of progesterone and epidermal growth factor signaling in breast cancer. Potentiation of mitogen-activated protein kinase pathways. J. Biol. Chem 273:31308-31316.

Last modified on: October 24, 2006