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RESEARCH
The research interests of our group are the roles of
steroid hormones in etiology of steroid hormone dependent diseases and
identification of novel drug targets and diagnostic biomarkers of these
diseases.
Steroid hormones have pivotal roles in human homeostasis. When their actions are disturbed, this can lead to the
development of hormone-dependent diseases, including hormone-dependent cancers and several benign diseases. There is a
compelling need to better understand the etiology of these common diseases. In this respect our group is investigating the mechanisms
of steroid hormone action under these pathological conditions. We are studying the individual estrogen, progesterone and androgen biosynthetic
and metabolizing enzymes, the individual metabolites formed, the receptors, and the components of the intracellular signaling
cascades in diseased tissue and in model cell lines of endometrial cancer, ovarian cancer, breast cancer, and endometriosis.
Our objectives are
1) to further the understanding of steroid actions in hormone-dependent diseases
and
2) to contribute to the identification of novel drug targets and diagnostic biomarkers among the estrogen and
progesterone biosynthetic and metabolizing enzymes, and their corresponding classical or membrane-bound receptors and
disease-associated metabolites.
There is a great need for early diagnosis and
individualized patient-oriented treatments for hormone-dependent diseases. In collaboration with the Department of Gynaecology at the
University Clinical Centre, Ljubljana, we are addressing the lack of appropriate biomarkers for diagnosis of endometrial cancer, ovarian
cancer and endometriosis. To accomplish these aims we are using targeted cutting-edge transcriptomics, proteomics and metabolomics approaches.
Our objectives are
1) to provide diagnostic and prognostic algorithms with high sensitivity and
specificity that will be available for further clinical validation and application, and will thus pave the way for future
development of diagnostic assays, and |
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2) to identify proteins associated with diseases that may serve as tissue markers
following successful validation in larger sets of archival pathological specimens, and demonstrated correlation with disease outcome.
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Representative publications:
Proteomic analysis of peritoneal fluid identified COMP and TGFBI as new candidate biomarkers for endometriosis.
AKR1B1 and AKR1B10 as Prognostic Biomarkers of Endometrioid Endometrial Carcinomas.
doi: 10.3390/cancers13143398.
[COBISS.SI-ID 69972739]
AKR1C3 Is Associated with Better Survival of Patients with Endometrial Carcinomas.
doi: 10.1002/cmdc.202000762.
[COBISS.SI-ID 43786755]
Multiplex analysis of 40 cytokines do not allow separation between endometriosis patients and controls
doi: 10.1038/s41598-019-52899-8.
[COBISS.SI-ID 34551001]
Models including plasma levels of sphingomyelins and phosphatidylcholines as diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers of endometrial cancer
doi: 10.1016/j.jsbmb.2018.01.012.
[COBISS.SI-ID 33617625]
Models including serum CA-125, BMI, cyst pathology, dysmenorrhea or dyspareunia for diagnosis of endometriosis
doi: 10.2217/bmm-2017-0426.
[COBISS.SI-ID 33799897]
Novel algorithm including CA-125, HE4 and body mass index in the diagnosis of endometrial cancer
doi: 10.1016/j.ygyno.2017.07.130.
[COBISS.SI-ID 33323737]
Discovery of biomarkers for endometrial cancer : current status and prospects
doi: 10.1080/14737159.2016.1258302.
[COBISS.SI-ID 32924633]
Altered levels of acylcarnitines, phosphatidylcholines, and sphingomyelins in peritoneal fluid from ovarian endometriosis patients
doi: 10.1016/j.jsbmb.2016.02.023.
[COBISS.SI-ID 32502745]
Diagnostic potential of peritoneal fluid biomarkers of endometriosis
doi: 10.1586/14737159.2015.1015994.
[COBISS.SI-ID 31819993]
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