Olivier Sordet PhD Molecular and Cellular Biology
Course and current status
December 2008 to present: Research scientist (CR1 INSERM) – Cancer Research Center of Toulouse, UMR1037 INSERM-University, Institut Claudius Regaud, Toulouse (France).
2002-2008: Post-doctoral Research Fellow – Laboratory of Molecular Pharmacology, National Cancer Institute (NCI), National Institutes of Health (NIH), Bethesda (USA)
1997-2001: Ph.D. candidate – Laboratory of Cell Death and Cancer, INSERM U517, IFR100, Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy, Dijon (France)
Scientific summary
Nuclear DNA topoisomerase I (TOP1) is an essential human enzyme that removes DNA supercoiling generated during most DNA transactions by producing transient TOP1 cleavage complexes (TOP1cc). TOP1 has held a particular interest owing to the discovery that it is the only known target of the alkaloid camptothecin, from which anticancer agents are derived. Camptothecins and its derivatives stabilize the TOP1cc leading to the production of DNA double-strand breaks during replication. We have recently shown that stabilization of TOP1cc by camptothecin also leads to DNA double-strand breaks during transcription. Our objectives are to characterize those transcription-associated DNA breaks and determine their role in the anti-tumor activity of camptothecins.
