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Updated: Jan 25, 2026

In vivo Imaging and Therapeutic Treatments in an Orthotopic Mouse Model of Ovarian Cancer
Published on: August 17, 2010
A compact synthetic pathway rewires cancer signaling to therapeutic effector release
Hokyung K Chung1,2,3, Xinzhi Zou4, Bryce T Bajar3,4
1Department of Biology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA.
Abstract:
An important goal in synthetic biology is to engineer biochemical pathways to address unsolved biomedical problems. One long-standing problem in molecular medicine is the specific identification and ablation of cancer cells. Here, we describe a method, named Rewiring of Aberrant Signaling to Effector Release (RASER), in which oncogenic ErbB receptor activity, instead of being targeted for inhibition as in existing treatments, is co-opted to trigger therapeutic programs. RASER integrates ErbB activity to specifically link oncogenic states to the execution of desired outputs. A complete mathematical model of RASER and modularity in design enable rational optimization and output programming. Using RASER, we induced apoptosis and CRISPR-Cas9-mediated transcription of endogenous genes specifically in ErbB-hyperactive cancer cells. Delivery of apoptotic RASER by adeno-associated virus selectively ablated ErbB-hyperactive cancer cells while sparing ErbB-normal cells. RASER thus provides a new strategy for oncogene-specific cancer detection and treatment.
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