Julien Ablain
People

Julien Ablain

Team Leader, Centre de recherche en cancérologie de Lyon (CRCL), France. Affiliations: Centre de recherche en cancérologie de Lyon, Centre Léon-Bérard, INSERM U1052, CNRS UMR5286, université Claude-Bernard Lyon 1

Presentation

Dr Ablain has long been interested in understanding the mechanisms of tumor initiation and progression, with the aim of discovering new vulnerabilities in cancer cells. During his PhD in Dr. Hugues de Thé's laboratory in Paris, he helped elucidate the mechanism of one of the few examples of curative cancer treatment : retinoic acid in acute promyelocytic leukemia. For his postdoctorate, he joined Dr Leonard Zon's laboratory at Harvard Medical School to study the biology of melanoma using zebrafish. Melanoma is an extremely aggressive skin cancer that often remains fatal despite recent therapeutic advances.Genetic alterations identified in human tumors offer a unique window into the molecular pathways of malignant transformation, but their functional characterization remains incomplete.

Dr Ablain has devised a method for rapidly generating zebrafish models that faithfully reproduce all the genotypes found in human melanoma. He was thus able to establish the major oncogenic role of SPRED1 gene loss in mucosal melanoma. In 2020, he set up his own research group at the Lyon Cancer Research Center . His recent work has identified the NECTIN1 adhesion gene as a novel suppressor of metastasis in melanoma. Building on these results, the Ablain laboratory aims to complete our current understanding of the molecular mechanisms regulating the early stages of tumor dissemination.

Julien Ablain is the winner of the Delheim 2023 Prize.

Selected bibliography

  • Uncoupling RARA Transcriptional Activation and Degradation Clarifies the Bases for APL Response to Therapies

    Ablain J, Leiva M, Peres L, Fonsart J, Anthony E, de Thé H. Uncoupling RARA Transcriptional Activation and Degradation Clarifies the Bases for APL Response to Therapies. J Exp Med. 2013 Apr 8;210(4):647-53.

  • Activation of a Promyelocytic Leukemia-Tumor Protein 53 Axis Underlies Acute Promyelocytic Leukemia Cure

    Ablain J, Rice K, Soilihi H, de Reynies A, Minucci S, de Thé H. Activation of a Promyelocytic Leukemia-Tumor Protein 53 Axis Underlies Acute Promyelocytic Leukemia Cure. Nat Med. 2014 Feb;20(2):167-74.

  • A CRISPR/Cas9 Vector System for Tissue-Specific Gene Disruption in Zebrafish

    Ablain J, Durand EM, Yang S, Zhou Y, Zon LI. A CRISPR/Cas9 Vector System for Tissue-Specific Gene Disruption in Zebrafish. Dev Cell. 2015 Mar 23;32(6):756-64.

  • Human Tumor Genomics and Zebrafish Modeling Identify SPRED1 Loss as a Driver of Mucosal Melanoma

    Ablain J, Xu M, Rothschild H, Jordan RC, Mito JK, Daniels BH, Bell CF, Joseph NM, Wu H, Bastian BC, Zon LI, Yeh I. Human Tumor Genomics and Zebrafish Modeling Identify SPRED1 Loss as a Driver of Mucosal Melanoma. Science. 2018 Nov 30;362(6418):1055-1060.

  • SPRED1 Deletion Confers Resistance to MAPK Inhibition in Melanoma

    Ablain J, Liu S, Moriceau G, Lo RS, Zon LI. SPRED1 Deletion Confers Resistance to MAPK Inhibition in Melanoma. J Exp Med. 2021 Mar 1;218(3):e20201097.

  • Loss of NECTIN1 Triggers Melanoma Dissemination upon Local IGF1 Depletion

    Ablain J*, Al Mahi A, Rothschild H, Prasad M, Aires S, Yang S, Dokukin ME, Xu S, Dang M, Sokolov I, Lian CG, Zon LI. Loss of NECTIN1 Triggers Melanoma Dissemination upon Local IGF1 Depletion. Nat Genet. 2022 Dec;54(12):1839-1852. *: corresponding author.