Group Karin Sundfeldt

Research summary

Karin Sundfeldt defended her thesis “Regulation of cell-cell adhesion and transcription in the ovary: Implications for tumorigenesis”, 1999 and continued for more than a decade with cell adhesion and EMT focused research along with the building of a gynecologic tumor biobank.

The focus on mechanisms of origin and ovarian carcinoma early-stage diagnostic biomarkers is a continuous read thread. The main goals at the moment are focused on:

• primary and secondary prevention of gynecologic cancer via construction of panels for detection of rare mutations in liquid biopsies such as cervical and endometrial smear
• understanding of endometriosis associated gynecologic cancer – how, why and who?
• in vitro studies based primary cultures of endometriosis and ovarian carcinoma
• NK-cell regulation in ovarian carcinoma and risk-reducing surgery in the HOPPSA and SALSTER RRCTs. The prognosis and risks of benign ovarian cyst surgery will be evaluated in a cohort of 23300 women between 2001-2021 registered continuously in GynOp, a national gyn-register since 1997.

Research tools and resources

• Continuous sampling and careful maintenance of Sahlgrenska Gynecology Cancer Biobank and Sahlgrenska endometriosis biobank.
• Various protein-based approaches, mass spectrometry, proximity extension assay, (OLINK platforms), antibody matrices, glycomic and nanoparticle-supported glycovariate assays.
• NGS; DNA-array platforms; exom-seq from both liquid biopsies and whole tissues, macro- or micro-dissected by laser beam technology.
• Ultra-sensitive analyzes of rare mutations, 0.1% (Safe-SeqS or SimSenSeq).
• In vitro: Primary cell cultures and cell-lines, organoids, protein and RNA expression patterns, therapy-screening.
• Flow cytometry, MSI, immunohistochemistry and tissue microarrays (TMA).
• Registerbased randomized controlled trials (HOPPSA and SALSTER)
• Epidemiologic studies using national registers; GynOp. Gyncancer register (RCCVäst), SoS.

Current group members

Karin Sundfeldt, MD, PhD, Professor, PI and Consultant Ob&Gyn
Anna Linder, PhD, Researcher and lab manager
Claudia Mateoiu, MD , PhD, Specialist gynecologic pathology
Benjamin Ulfenborg, PhD, Associate professor, Bio-statistician
Björg Kristjansdottir, MD, PhD, Gyncancer surgeon
Elin Bernson, PhD, Postdoc
Maria Lycke, MD, PhD, Postdoc, Gyncancer surgeon
Amanda Olsson Widjaja, PhD student (biotechnology)
Jacob Malchau Lauesgaard, MD, PhD student
Carina Iloson, MD, PhD student
Anna Darelius, MD, PhD student (associated)
Sara Schumacher, PhD student
Manuel Rujano, Research assistant
Julia Wängberg, MD, Research assistant
Ida Nygren Hanson, Research nurse
Johanna Hall, Research nurse

Selected publications

1. Diagnostic potential of nanoparticle aided assays for MUC16 and MUC1 glycovariants in ovarian cancer.
   Jain S, Nadeem N, Ulfenborg B, Mäkelä M, Ruma SA, Terävä J, Huhtinen K, Leivo J, Kristjansdottir B, Pettersson K, Sundfeldt K*, Gidwani K*. Int J Cancer 2022:May 9:Online ahead of print.
    
2. Targeted selected reaction monitoring (SRM) verifies histology specific peptide signatures in epithelial ovarian cancer.
   Liljedahl-L, Kilsgård-O, Malmström-J, Kristjansdottir-B, Waldemarsson-S, Sundfeldt K. ; Cancers (Basel) 2021:13(22). 
    
3. Analysis of blood group antigens on MUC5AC in mucinous ovarian cancer tissues using in situ proximity ligation assay.
   Mateoiu C, Vitiazeva V, Kristjansdottir B, Weijdegård B, Örnros J, Gallini R, Kamali-Moghaddam M, Sundfeldt K*, Karlsson NG*. Glycobiology 2021:31(11):1464-1471. 
    
4. Univariate and classification analysis reveals potential diagnostic biomarkers for early stage ovarian cancer Type 1 and Type 2.
   Marcišauskas S, Ulfenborg B, Kristjansdottir B, Waldemarson S, Sundfeldt K. J Proteomics. 2019 Jan 30;196:57-68 IF: 3.9.
    
5. A two-step strategy for identification of plasma protein biomarkers for endometrial and ovarian cancer.
   Enroth S, Berggrund M, Lycke M, Lundberg M, Assarsson E, Stålberg K, Olovsson M, Sundfeldt K*, Gyllensten U*. *Shared authorship. Clin Proteomics, 2018 Dec 1;15:38. IF: 3.3.
    
6. A multicenter clinical trial validating the performance of HE4, CA125, risk of ovarian malignancy algorithm and risk of malignancy Index.
   Lycke M, Kristjansdottir B, Sundfeldt K. Gynecol Oncol. 2018 Oct;151(1):159-165 IF 5.0.
    
7. Evaluation of liquid from the Papanicolaou test and other liquid biopsies for the detection of endometrial and ovarian cancers.
   Wang Y, Li L, Douville C, Cohen JD, Yen TT Kinde I, Sundfelt K, Kjær SK, Hruban RH, Shih IM,Wang TL, Kurman RJ, Springer S, Ptak J, Popoli M, Schaefer J, Silliman N, Dobbyn L, Tanner EJ, Angarita A, Lycke M, Jochumsen K, Afsari B, Danilova L, Levine DA, Jardon K, Zeng X, Arseneau J, Fu L, Diaz LA Jr, Karchin R, Tomasetti C, Kinzler KW, Vogelstein B, Fader AN, Gilbert L, Papadopoulos N. Sci Transl Med. 2018 Mar 21;10(433). IF: 22.1.
    
8. Efficacy of salpingectomy at hysterectomy to reduce the risk of epithelial ovarian cancer: a systematic review.
   Darelius A, Lycke M, Kindblom JM, Kristjansdottir B, Sundfeldt K, Strandell A. BJOG. 2017 May;124(6).
    
9. Diagnostic potential of tumor DNA from ovarian cyst fluid.
   Wang Y*, Sundfeldt K*, Mateoiu C, Shih leM, Kurman RJ, Schaefer J, Silliman N, Kinde I, Springer S, Foote M, Kristjansdottir B, James N, Kinzler KW, Papdopoulos N, Dias LA, Vogelstein B. elife. 2016 Jul 15;5. *Shared first authorship. IF: 7.7.
    
10. Phenotypic plasticity of the ovarian surface epithelium: TGF-beta1 induction of epithelial to mesenchymal Transition (EMT) in vitro.
    Zhu Y, Nilsson M, Sundfeldt K.  Endocrinology. 2010 Nov; 151(11):5497-5505.. Including an editorial by Brown and Shathasivam in the same issue of Endocrinology “Maintaining mesenchymal properties of ovarian surface epithelial cells: A potential early protecitive role for TGF-beta in ovarian carcinogenesis. IF: 4.9

More group Karin Sundfeldt publications on PubMed