Research activities
Legend for figure: thyroid cancer developing in a mouse injected with Iodine-131. Arrows indicate regions of thyroid cancer formation.
Thyroid tumours arise in human populations after exposure to ionizing radiation, but causality is not easily, if ever, established due to the significant incidence of sporadic cancers. Consequently genetic analysis of susceptibility is all neigh impossible in human populations due to confounding non-radiation induced tumours. By using selected mouse models the probability of causality is dramatically increased, raising the accuracy of genetic studies. Consequently the consortium will place considerable effort in developing and refining mouse models of radiation-induced thyroid cancer. In a parallel part of the study genetic analysis of human thyroid cancer with a radiation association will be conducted to give us the opportunity to translate the animal data into human studies. The studies on thyroid tissue will be published in the open literature and presented to international meetings dealing with thyroid cancer and with radiation biology. Through an SME partner (ASCENION) the potential for exploitation of IP in the clinical field will be explored.