CV Science

Nicolas Jonckheere CR1 Inserm researcher

Course and current status

Current position CR1 Inserm senior scientist (september 2012-today)

“Role of MUC4 mucin and ErbB2 oncogenic receptor in pancreatic carcinogenesis and chemoresistance”
INSERM UMR837 Team 5 "Mucins, epithelial differentiation and carcinogenesis", Lille, France. Dir : Isabelle Van Seuningen. Jean-Pierre AUBERT Research Center – JPARC. Dir : Pierre Formstecher

 Postdoctoral fellow (October 2007-august 2012)

“Role of MUC4-ErbB2 complex in pancreatic carcinogenesis”
INSERM UMR837 Team 5 "Mucins, epithelial differentiation and carcinogenesis", Lille, France. Dir : Isabelle Van Seuningen. Jean-Pierre AUBERT Research Center – JPARC. Dir : Pierre Formstecher
Funding :  Ligue Nationale contre le Cancer postdoctoral fellowship (2010-2011),  Institut National du Cancer (INCa) (2008-2010)

 Postdoctoral fellow (February 2005 – June 2007)

“Analysis of mPygo2 mutant mice suggests a requirement for mesenchymal Wnt signaling in pancreatic growth and differentiation ”
Determination of the role of mPygo2 in pancreatic development using a knock-out mouse model mPygo2-/-
University of California Irvine, Irvine, USA
Department of Developmental and Cell Biology.
Dir. : Dr Maike Sander

 Postdoctoral training, Association François Aupetit Grant (November/December 2004)

“Mucine gene expression during the mouse development ”
Erasmus Medical Center, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Laboratory of Pediatrics, Department of Neonatology.
Dir : Dr Ingrid B Renes

 PhD thesis (September 2000 – October 2004)

"Regulation of human and murin mucine genes by TGF-b and transcription factors involved in gastro-intestinal differentiation”
Unit INSERM U560 “Epithelial mucins, from gene to function”, Lille, France. Dir : Dr Jean-Pierre Aubert.
Group “Cell signalling and transcriptional regulation”  PhD mentor : Dr Isabelle Van Seuningen
Funding: CHR-U Lille – Région Nord Pas de Calais PhD fellowship

 Area of expertises:

- In vivo studies (transgenic models)
- Pancreas biology (development and pathological)
- Gene regulation and cell signalling
- Cell biology
- Mucins

Scientific summary

Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma (PDAC) cancer is the 4^th leading cause of death by cancer in the world with an extremely low survival rate (6 months) and a short survival curve at 5 years (3%). The lack of early diagnosis and efficient therapy leads to this dramatic outcome. It is urgent to develop new diagnostic and/or prognostic tools for the clinicians in order to propose better healthcare management of the disease. Moreover, identification of new molecular targets by deciphering the molecular mechanisms underlying the disease will allow the development of both new therapeutic tools and new therapeutic approaches to treat the disease.

The membrane-bound mucin MUC4 is not expressed in normal pancreas whereas it is expressed in the earliest precursor lesion PanIN1A and its expression increases toward adenocarcinoma. Moreover, MUC4 is a target gene of TGF-b pathway in pancreatic cancer cells and is the partner of oncogenic receptor ErbB2. Thus, MUC4 could be a major actor of pancreatic carcinogenesis and a promising therapeutic target.

This project aims to understand the roles of MUC4 and ErbB2  in pancreatic carcinogenesis. We will use a triple (in vitro, in vivo and ex vivo) approach to decipher the role of these genes.