Robert Kypta
rkypta
Robert Kypta
ASSOCIATE PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
Cancer Heterogeneity Lab
Address: Bizkaia Science and Technology Park, building 801A, Derio (Bizkaia)

Robert Kypta was an undergraduate at Oxford University and carried out his PhD at EMBL in Heidelberg, where he studied signaling by Src family tyrosine kinases and PDGF. After postdoctoral training in Louis Reichardt’s lab at the University of California San Francisco, where he found an association between the cadherin-catenin complex and receptor tyrosine phosphatases, he set up his own lab as a Wellcome Trust Career Development Fellow at the MRC Laboratory for Molecular Cell Biology, UCL, focusing on catenin function in neuroblastoma and colorectal cancer. He then moved to Imperial College as a Lecturer, where his group focused on Wnt signaling in prostate cancer. In 2005, he set up his lab at CIC bioGUNE, where his goal is to develop new therapies by targeting signals that determine tumor and stem cell fate. His research has resulted in several awards, including an ARTP Prize and an Androgens Meeting Prize.

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The Cancer Heterogeneity Lab seeks to understand tumor heterogeneity and use this knowledge to deliver new approaches to treatment of patients. Breast cancer is a particularly heterogeneous disease. The identification and characterization of cells with stem-like properties (cancer stem/progenitor cells, CSCs) in breast cancer has opened new possibilities for anti-cancer therapies. Furthermore, CSCs have been implicated in tumor initiation and resistance to current treatments, including hormone therapy. In addition, characterization of the regulation of normal epithelial cell differentiation is fundamental to understanding breast cancer heterogeneity.

A major objective of the laboratory is to gain further insight into the roles of steroid hormone receptors in normal breast tissue and during breast cancer development. Thus, the influences of hormones, other signaling factors and the microenvironment on breast stem cells and on their transformation into cancer initiating cells are being explored, particularly focusing on their effects during development of resistance to hormone therapy. Recent work from the lab has revealed the role of CSCs in resistance to tamoxifen and has highlighted the molecular heterogeneity observed in response to the cell environment. Presently, studies are in progress to improve further our knowledge of the molecular mechanisms regulating stem and cancer stem cells with the final aims of (1) identifying biomarkers of resistance to therapy and (2) progressing our understanding of breast cancer biology. Recent studies have focused on the transcription factors SOX2 and SOX9, which play key roles in CSCs in many tumor types.

The group also maintains a strong interest in secreted factors whose expression is altered in metastatic and treatment-resistant disease, such as Wnt-11, which is found upregulated in prostate and colorectal cancers. We identified FZD8 as a major Wnt-11 receptor in prostate cancer that integrates Wnt and TGF-beta signals and we have developed Wnt-11 function-blocking antibody nanoparticles, in collaboration with A. Cortajarena at CIC biomaGUNE. In addition, we study Dkk-3, which regulates the tumor microenvironment. We have identified Dkk-3 effectors and are using epigenetic approaches to restore Dkk-3 levels expression in cancer, in collaboration with colleagues at Imperial College London.

Latest Publications

Intravital imaging of Wnt/?-catenin and ATF2-dependent signalling pathways during tumour cell invasion and metastasis

Stoletov, K;Sanchez, S;Gorrono, I;Rabano, M;Vivanco, MDM;Kypta, R;Lewis, JD

JOURNAL OF CELL SCIENCE

2023-02-01

Comparison of Genomic Profiling Data with Clinical Parameters: Implications for Breast Cancer Prognosis

Lopez-Ruiz, JA;Mieza, JA;Zabalza, I;Vivanco, MDM

CANCERS

2022-09-01

Involvement of the PI3K/AKT Intracellular Signaling Pathway in the AntiCancer Activity of Hydroxytyrosol, a Polyphenol from Olea europaea, in Hematological Cells and Implication of HSP60 Levels in Its Anti-Inflammatory Activity

Parra-Perez, AM;Perez-Jimenez, A;Gris-Cardenas, I;Bonel-Perez, GC;Carrasco-Diaz, LM;Mokhtari, K;Garcia-Salguero, L;Lupianez, JA;Rufino-Palomares, EE

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MOLECULAR SCIENCES

2022-07-01

Substrate stiffness modulates the viscoelastic properties of MCF-7 cells

Gil-Redondo, JC;Weber, A;Zbiral, B;Vivanco, MD;Toca-Herrera, JL

JOURNAL OF THE MECHANICAL BEHAVIOR OF BIOMEDICAL MATERIALS

2022-01-01

Single-Crystal-to-Single-Crystal Cluster Transformation in a Microporous Molybdoarsenate(V)-Metalorganic Framework

Dissem, N;Artetxe, B;San Felices, L;Beobide, G;Castillo, O;Ruiz-Bilbao, E;Lezama, L;Vivanco, MD;Haddad, A;Gutierrez-Zorrilla, JM

INORGANIC CHEMISTRY

2021-10-04

Nuclear receptors: Lipid and hormone sensors with essential roles in the control of cancer development

Font-Diaz, J;Jimenez-Panizo, A;Caelles, C;Vivanco, MD;Perez, P;Aranda, A;Estebanez-Perpina, E;Castrillo, A;Ricote, M;Valledor, AF

SEMINARS IN CANCER BIOLOGY

2021-08-01

Estrogen Modulates Epithelial Breast Cancer Cell Mechanics and Cell-to-Cell Contacts

Zbiral, B;Weber, A;Iturri, J;Vivanco, MDM;Toca-Herrera, JL

MATERIALS

2021-06-01

SOX11 promotes epithelial/mesenchymal hybrid state and alters tropism of invasive breast cancer cells

Oliemuller, E;Newman, R;Tsang, SM;Foe, S;Muirhead, G;Noor, F;Haider, S;Aurrekoetxea-Rodriguez, I;Vivanco, MD;Howard, BA

ELIFE

2020-09-10

OMTX705, a Novel FAP-Targeting ADC Demonstrates Activity in Chemotherapy and Pembrolizumab-Resistant Solid Tumor Models

Fabre, M;Ferrer, C;Dominguez-Hormaetxe, S;Bockorny, B;Murias, L;Seifert, O;Eisler, SA;Kontermann, RE;Pfizenmaier, K;Lee, SY;Vivanco, MD;Lopez-Casas, PP;Perea, S;Abbas, M;Richter, W;Simon, L;Hidalgo, ...

CLINICAL CANCER RESEARCH

2020-07-01

The Major Pre- and Postmenopausal Estrogens Play Opposing Roles in Obesity-Driven Mammary Inflammation and Breast Cancer Development

Qureshi, R;Picon-Ruiz, M;Aurrekoetxea-Rodriguez, I;de Paiva, VN;D'Amico, M;Yoon, H;Radhakrishnan, R;Morata-Tarifa, C;Ince, T;Lippman, ME;Thaller, SR;Rodgers, SE;Kesmodel, S;Vivanco, MD;Slingerland, ...

CELL METABOLISM

2020-06-02