Skin cancer and proteinases – Veli-Matti Kähäri
The aim of our research group is to identify new molecular mechanisms involved in progression of cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (cSCC), the most common metastatic skin cancer.
In the absence of targeted therapies, the prognosis of metastatic cSCC is poor. Furthermore, there are no molecular markers to identify those primary cSCCs which present high risk for metastasis. Our aim is to find and characterize new biomarkers for evaluating the risk of progression and metastasis of cSCC and identify novel therapeutic targets for recurrent and metastatic cSCC. Our recent results show, that components of the complement system play a role in progression of cSCC. We have also identified and characterized two long non-coding RNAs, PICSAR and PRECSIT, which regulate growth and invasion of cSCC. The research group is led by professor Veli-Matti Kähäri.
