Cell signaling by protein kinases and cancer. PI: Rosa Aligué Alemany

Presentation

Protein kinases in càncer and stress response

The focus of our group is to understand the molecular mechanism by which the calmodulin-dependent quinases (CaMKs) regulate cell cycle control and stress response.

We have described the role of two members of the CaMKs, Cmk2 and Srk1 as targets of the p38 MAPK, therefore they also are MAPKAP kinases. Recently we have shown that CaMK1(Cmk1) negatively regulates the phosphatase calcineurin and we have identified the CaMKK2 (Ckk2) as the upstream kinase regulating Cmk1 in response to calcium stress. Currently we are focused in dissect new roles of of the Ckk2. The identification of Ckk2 substrates through the analysis of phospho-peptides indicates that Ckk2 is involved the regulation of glucose uptake, nutrient homeostasis and cell mophology. We are analysing the crosstalk between Ckk2, PKA and TOR pathways.

Biotechnology

Last years, the group has established a research collaboration with the company Fertinagro Biotech, for the production of enzymes involved in phosphorus metabolism. Recently the research has focused on the isolation and identification of microorganisms that favor cell proliferation and/or enhance the response to different types of environmental stress. We tudy the components and mechanism which activate signal transduction pathways and cell cycle regulation the identified and selected microorganisms.

Group members

Rosa Aligué Alemany
PhD, Full professor (P.I.)
aliguerosa@ub.edu

Ramon Marquès Mascarell
PhD, Researcher
Ramon.marques@tervalis.es

Tula Yance Chávez
PhD, Researcher
tyance@hotmail.com

Ignasi Salaet Madorran
PhD, Researcher
ignasi.salaet@icloud.com

Maribel Marquina Rodríguez
Postdoctoral researcher
mimarquina@ub.edu

Edgard Martin Ramos
Predoctoral researcher
edgar.martin@ub.edu

Sònia Brun Lozano
PhD, Unit laboratory technician
soniabrun@ub.edu

Research lines

Protein kinases in càncer and stress response:

- Role of the CaMKK2 kinase in metabolic stress and tumor development
- Interaction between CaMKK2, PKA and TOR pathways
- Implication and analysis of CaMKK2 in metabolic diseases.

Biotechnology

- Design, expression and production of enzymes relevant to the industry
- Isolation, identification and analysis of microorganisms involved in cell proliferation and stress response. Identification of the components and signaling pathways activated

Research projects

Oxidative stress and cell cycle group

PI: Rosa Aligué, José Ayté and Elena Hidalgo
Coordinated by Dr. Elena Hidalgo Hernando, Universitat Pompeu Fabra
Research Group of the Generalitat de Catalunya: 2021 SGR 00007
Amount: 60.000 €
2021 -

Resistance under combinatorial treatment in ER+ and ER- Breast cancer (Rescuer)

IP: Antoni Hurtado (Participating researcher: Rosa Aligué)
Horizon 2020. Societal Challenges
SCI- Health (847912)
2020 - 2024

Desarrollo de un nuevo método para la clasificación y valoración de bioestimulantes

PI: Rosa Aligué Alemany
RTC2019-006922-2
Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación
Amount: 219.581,00 €
2020 - 2023

Spanish Network on Cancer Research CIBERONC

Participating researcher: Rosa Aligué
Health Research Fund
ISCIII (RD12/0036/0054)
2018 - 2020

Funció de la familia de quinases dependents de CaM en la captació de la glucose i l’homeostasi de nutrients: connexió amb la via de senyalització mTOR

PI: Rosa Aligué Alemany
BFU2015-65311-R
MEC Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness
2016 - 2019

Identificació de molècules actives a partir de cèl·lules de llevat i evaluació de de la seva eficació com estimulants del creixement en condicions d’estrés

PI: Rosa Aligué Alemany
Research agreement
UB-Fertinagro Nutrientes, S.A
2017 - 2019

Red temática de investigación cooperativa de cáncer (RTICC)

Participating researcher: Rosa Aligué
Instituto de Salud Carlos IIII (ISCIII)
RD12/0036/0054
2013 - 2019

Role of the CaM-depedent family of kinases in glucose uptake and nutrient homeostasis

PI: Rosa Aligué Alemany
Research agreement
017011 UB-La Caixa
2016 - 2018

Proliferació Cel·lular

PI: Rosa Aligué Alemany
Support to Research Groups
SGR2014-538, Generalitat de Catalunya
2014 - 2016

La familia de quinasas dependientes de calmodulina en la señalización de respuesta a estrés y el control del ciclo celular.

PI: Rosa Aligué Alemany
MEC, Ministerio de Economia y Competividad
BFU2012-31220/BM
2013 - 2015

Research agreements

FERTINAGRO NUTRIENTES, S.L. - Universitat de Barcelona

Noves estratègies per a la producció, caracterització i optimització de l'enzim Fitasa
Responsible researcher: Rosa Aligué Alemany
Departament de Biomedicina, Facultat de Medicina
2020

FERTINAGRO BIOTECH, S.L. - Universitat de Barcelona

Identificación de moléculas activas a partir de levaduras y evaluación de su eficacia como estimulante del crecimiento en condiciones de estrés a través del modelo celular Schizosacharomyces pombe
Responsible researcher: Rosa Aligué Alemany
Departament de Biomedicina, Facultat de Medicina
2017 - 2019

FERTINAGRO BIOTECH, S.L. - Universitat de Barcelona

Identificación, aislamiento y selección de microorganismos (bacterias y levaduras) capaces de estimular y favorecer el crecimiento vegetal, así como inhibir el desarrollo de microorganismos no deseables
Responsible researcher: Rosa Aligué Alemany
Departament de Biomedicina, Facultat de Medicina
2013 - 2015

Publications

For more information for PI publications click in the link:
PRC: 0000-0002-2085-325X
ORCID: 0000-0002-2085-325X

Mur, P.; García-Mulero, S.; Del Valle, J.; Magraner-Pardo, L.; Vidal, A.; Pineda, M.; Cinnirella, G.; Martín-Ramos, E.; Pons, T.; López-Doriga, A.; Belhadj, S.; Feliubadaló, L.; Munoz-Torres, P. M.; Navarro, M.; Grau, E.; Darder, E.; Llort, G.; Sanz, J.; Ramón y Cajal, T.; 14, Balmana, J.; Brunet, J.; Moreno, V.; Piulats, J. M.; Matías-Guiu, X.; Sanz-Pamplona, R.; Aligué, R.; Capellá, G.; Lázaro, C.; Valle, L. Role of POLE and POLD1 in familial cancer. Genet Med. 2020 Dec; 22(12): 2089-2100. doi: 10.1038/ s41436-020-0922-2. Epub 2020 Aug 14. PMID: 32792570

F. Prieto-Ruiz, J. Vicente-Soler, A. Franco, E. Gómez-Gil, M. Sánchez-Marinas, B.Vázquez- Marín, R. Aligué, M. Madrid, S. Moreno, T. Soto and J. Cansado. RNA-Binding Protein Rnc1 Regulates Cell Length at Division and Acute Stress Response in Fission Yeast through Negative Feedback Modulation of the Stress-Activated Mitogen- Activated Protein Kinase Pathway. mBio. 2020 Jan 7;11(1). pii: e02815-19. doi: 10.1128/mBio.02815-19. PMID: 31911490

Castellsagué E; Li R.; Aligue R.; González S.; Sanz J.; Martin E.; Velasco A.; Capella G.; Stewart C.J.R.; Vidal A.; Majewski J.; Matias-Guiu X.; Brunet J.; Foulkes W.D. Novel POLE pathogenic germline variant in a family with multiple primary tumors results in distinct mutational signatures. Human Mutation, 2019, vol. 40, núm. 1, p. 36-41. ISSN: 1059-7794. DOI: 10.1002/humu.23676.

Marta Sanchez-Marinas; David Gimenez-Zaragoza; Edgar Martin-Ramos; Julia Llanes; José Cansado; Maria Jesús Pujol; Oriol Bachs; Rosa Aligue; Free Radical Biology and Medicine. Cmk2 kinase is essential for survival in oxidative stress caused by arsenite metalloid by modulating translation through RACK1 orthologue Cpc2. Free Radical Biology and Medicine, 2018, vol. 129, p. 116-126. ISSN: 0891-5849. DOI: 10.1016/j. freeradbiomed. 2018.09.024.

Oriol Bachs; Edurne Gallastegui; Serena Orlando; Anna Bigas; Jose Manuel Morante-Redolat; Joan Serratosa; Isabel Fariñas; Rosa Aligué; Maria Jesús Pujol. Role of p27Kip1 as a transcriptional regulator. Oncotarget, 2018, vol. 9, p. 26259-26278. ISSN: 1949-2553. DOI: 10.18632/oncotarget.25447.

M. Hamdi, J. Pérez, M. Létourneau-Montminy, R. Franco-Rosselló, R. Aligue, D. Solà- Oriol. The effects ofmicrobial phytases and dietary calcium and phosphorus levels on the productive performance and bone mineralization of broilers. Animal Feed Science and Technology, 2018, vol. 243, p. 41-51. ISSN: 0377-8401. DOI: 10.1016 /j.anifeedsci. 2018.07.005.

E. Gallastegui; C. Domuro; J. Serratosa; A. Larrieux; L. Sin; J. Martínez; A. Besson; J.M. Morante-Redolat; S. Orlando; R. Aligue; I. Fariñas; M.J. Pujol; O. Bachs. p27Kip1 regulates alpha-synuclein expression. Oncotarget, 2018, vol. 9, núm. 23, p. 16368-16379. ISSN: 1949-2553. DOI: 10.18632/oncotarget.24687.

Bigas, A.; Ruiz-Herguido, C.; Aligué, R.; Espinosa, L. Notch Ligands in Hematopoietic Stem Cell production. Targeting Notch in Cancer: From the Fruit Fly to the Clinic. Miele L and Artavanis-Tsakonas S, editors., 2018, p. 313-332. Springer Nature.

Biçer A.; Orlando S.; Islam ABMMK; Gallastegui E.; Besson A.; Aligué R.; Bachs O.; Pujol M.J. ChIP-Seq analysis identifies p27(Kip1)-target genes involved in cell adhesion and cell signalling in mouse embryonic fibroblasts. PLoS One, 2017, vol. 12, núm. 11, p. e0187891. ISSN: 1932-6203. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0187891.

Esteban-Jurado C.; Giménez-Zaragoza D.; Muñoz J.; Franch-Expósito S.; Álvarez-Barona M.; Ocaña T.; Cuatrecasas M.; Carballal S.; López-Cerón M.; Marti-Solano M.; Díaz-Gay M.; van Wezel T.; Castells A.; Bujanda L7.; Balmaña J8.; Gonzalo 9.; Llort 10.; Ruiz-Ponte 3.; Cubiella JJ.; Balaguer F.; Aligué R.; Castellví-Bel S. POLE and POLD1 screening in 155 patients with multiple polyps and early-onset colorectal cáncer. Oncotarget, 2017, vol. 8, p. 26732-26743. ISSN: 1949-2553. DOI: 10.18632/oncotarget.15810.

Hamdi, M.; Solà-Oriol, D.; Franco-Rosselló, R.; Aligué-Alemany, R.; Pérez, J. F. Comparison of how different feed phosphates affect performance, bone mineralization and phosphorus retention in broilers. Spanish Journal of Agricultural Research, Volume 15, Issue 3, e0605. 2017.

Perearnau A, Orlando S, Islam AB, Gallastegui E, Martínez J, Jordan A, Bigas A, Aligué R, Pujol MJ, Bachs O. p27Kip1, PCAF and PAX5 cooperate in the transcriptional regulation of specific target genes. Nucleic Acids Res. 45:5086-5099. 2017.

Gekas C, D'Altri T, Aligué R, González J, Espinosa L, Bigas A. β-Catenin is required for T-cell leukemia initiation and MYC transcription downstream of Notch1. Leukemia. 10:2002-2010. 2016.

Gómez-Hierro A, Lambea E, Giménez-Zaragoza D, López-Avilés S, Yance-Chávez T, Montserrat M, Pujol MJ, Bachs O, . Ssp1 CaMKK: A Sensor of Actin Polarization That Controls Mitotic Commitment through Srk1 in Schizosaccharomyces pombe. PLoS One. 10:e0143037. 2015.

Serena Orlando, Edurne Gallastegui, Arnaud Besson, Gabriel Abril, Rosa Aligué, Maria Jesus Pujol and Oriol Bachs. P27Kip1 and p21Cip1 collaborate in teh regulation of trasncription by recuiting cyclin–cdk complexes on the promoters of target genesl. Nucleic Acids Res. 43: 6860-73. 2015.

Eugenia Cisneros-Barroso, Tula Yance-Chávez, Ayako Kito, Reiko Sugiur2, Alba Gómez-Hierro, David Gimenez-Zaragoza and Rosa Aligue. Negative feedback regulation of calcineurin-dependent Prz1 transcription factor by the CaMKK-CaMK1 axis in fission yeast. Nucleic Acids Res. 42: 9573-9587 2014.

Job offers

Offers from the University of Barcelona:

Feina UB

Offers from the Research Group:

Currently, we do not have any openings. However, if you are a highly motivated student or postdoc, do not hesitate to contact at aliguerosa@ub.edu

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