Breadcrumb

null Jean-Jacques Lebrun, MSc, PhD

Senior Scientist, RI-MUHC, Glen site

Cancer Research Program

Centre for Translational Biology

Professor, Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, McGill University

 

Keywords

cancer metastasis • tumor suppression • cancer stem cell therapy • triple negative breast cancer • Crisperized medicine • personalized medicine • precision oncology • synthetic lethality • CRISPR genome-wide screen • mechanisms of drug resistance • CRISPR gene therapy • drug development • structure-based drug discovery and design • computational modeling • dual targeting kinase inhibitors

Research Focus

The vision/direction of our research program aims at understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying tumour initiation, progression, stemness and drug resistance in metastatic cancer, all of which are considered major challenges in the management of cancer patients. Metastatic cancer is a largely incurable disease responsible for 90% of cancer deaths, and it lacks effective targeted therapies. Our mission and long-term goal is to advance and accelerate the translation of basic laboratory discoveries into new cancer therapeutics against this deadly disease. To achieve these objectives, our lab has developed central lines of research using cellular systems (in vitro), patient-derived organoids (ex-vivo), patient-derived preclinical xenografts (in vivo), bioinformatics and data mining analysis for large cohorts of human patient datasets (in silico). Using state-of-the-art technologies, gene editing (CRISPR) and genome-wide molecular approaches, our lab has also developed a cutting-edge “Crisperized medicine” research program. In time, our research will help identify specific cancer biomarkers, improve patient stratification and develop novel innovative therapeutic modalities in cancer.

Selected Publications

Click on Pubmed to see my current publications list

  • Dai M, Yan G, Wang N, Daliah G, Edick A, Poulet S, Boudreault J, Ali S, Burgos S, Lebrun JJ. (2021) In vivo Genome-Wide CRISPR Screen Reveals Breast Cancer Vulnerabilities and synergistic mTOR/Hippo Targeted Combination Therapy. Nature Communications 12, Article number: 3055, published May 24, 2021).

  • Yan G, Dai M, Zhang C, Poulet S, Moamer A, Wang N, Boudreault J, Ali S, Lebrun JJ. (2021) TGFβ/Cyclin D1/Smad-mediated inhibition of BMP4 promotes breast cancer stem cell self-renewal activity. Oncogenesis 2021 Mar 1;10(3):21. doi: 10.1038/s41389-021-00310-5.

  • Tian J, Wang V, Wang N, Khadang B, Bakdounes K, Ali S, Lebrun JJ. (2021) Identification of MFGE8 and KLK5/7 as mediators of breast tumorigenesis and resistance to COX-2 inhibition. Breast Cancer Research 2021 Feb 15;23(1):23. doi: 10.1186/s13058-021-01401-2.

  • Shams A, Binothman N, Boudreault J, Wang N, Shams F, Hamam D, Tian J, Moamer A, Dai M, Lebrun JJ, Ali S. (2021). Prolactin receptor-driven combined luminal and epithelial differentiation in breast cancer restricts plasticity, stemness, tumorigenesis and metastasis. Oncogenesis 2021 Jan 14;10(1):10. doi: 10.1038/s41389-020-00297-5. PMID: 33446633.

  • Dai M, Boudreault J, Wang N, Poulet S, Daliah G, Yan G, Moamer A, Burgos S, Sabri S, Ali S, Lebrun JJ. (2021) Differential regulation of cancer progression by CDK4/6 plays a central role in DNA replication and repair pathways. Cancer Res. 2021 Mar 1;81(5):1332-1346. doi: 10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-20-2121. Epub 2020 Dec 28. PMID: 33372040.