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 Luke Hoeppner, Ph.D.
 “We study the molecular basis of human disease to ultimately discover new strategies to improve people’s health, including research that may lead to new ways to
combat cancer, cardiovascular disease, and lung injury.”
Luke Hoeppner
38 | THE HORMEL INSTITUTE // Cancer Biology
SECTION LEADER / ASSISTANT PROFESSOR
UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA
One primary goal of our laboratory is identi- fying molecular and cellular mechanisms that enable tumors to initiate, grow, invade
other organs, and resist therapy. Using this new knowledge, we aim to develop innovative ap- proaches to prevent, predict, diagnose, and treat lung cancer. Our team is also investigating the molecular regulation of vascular permeability,
a process that plays a role in the pathology of cancer, stroke, cardiovascular disease, retinal conditions, and COVID-19-associated pulmonary edema, sepsis, and acute lung injury. During
the past year, we have been happy to welcome Dr. Joas Lucas Da Silva to our group. Dr. Da Silva, a talented trainee being co-mentored by Dr. Leena Hilakivi-Clarke, is studying the cardioprotective effects of walnuts against aromatase inhibitors because breast cancer patients treated with aromatase inhibitors are at a greater risk for heart failure and cardiovascular disease.
Discovering of new mechanisms of small cell lung cancer progression
Cancer occurs when cells in our bodies grow uncontrollably, acquire aggressive characteristics, and spread to other tissues. Exposure to envi- ronmental factors, like carcinogens in cigarette smoke, cause irreversible damage to cells through mutations in specific genes. In small cell lung
        cancer, the mutations that cause cancer growth and resistance to chemotherapy are poorly under- stood. Small cell lung cancer is particularly deadly because tumor refractory growth typically occurs within about one year of chemotherapy, which underscores the importance of identifying thera- peutically targetable molecular drivers of acquired resistance. We are grateful and honored to have recently received a four-year Research Scholar Grant from the American Cancer Society to study this problem. We are testing whether therapeuti- cally targeting a specific molecular pathway inhib- its human small cell lung cancer growth. We have shown that a dopamine-regulated phosphoprotein called DARPP-32 drives small cell lung cancer growth (British Journal of Cancer, 2020). DARPP-32 proteins represent potential therapeutic targets, and we predict therapeutically altering the do- pamine signaling pathway is a new approach to inhibit small cell lung cancer progression and drug resistance that will translate to cures.
 




















































































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