Solange LandrevillePh.D.

In addition to being a regular researcher at the CHU Research Center of Québec-Laval University (Regenerative Medicine Axis) and Assistant Professor in the Department of Ophthalmology and Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at the Faculty of Medicine of Laval University, Dr. Solange Landreville is a regular researcher at the Center for Research in Experimental Organogenesis at Laval University / LOEX. Her work focuses on the development of treatment for the metastatic stage of ocular melanoma, and the improvement of cell culture and tissue engineering models in ophthalmology.

Dr. Landreville is a Junior 1 Research Fellow with the Fonds de recherche du Québec – Santé (FRQS) and was the recipient of the Bernard-Belleau Award from the Association Francophone pour le savoir (ACFAS) in 2005.

Develop a treatment for metastatic uveal melanoma

Uveal melanoma is the most common primary intraocular tumor in adults, and the second most common type of melanoma after the skin. It is a sporadic cancer, and familial cases are very rare. It is therefore difficult to prevent or justify large-scale screening tests. Metastases to the liver occur in half of the cases, despite the success of the eye’s treatment. Translational research on uveal melanoma has progressed rapidly in the last decade, with the development of prognostic genetic tools, but the main obstacle to improving patient survival remains the notorious resistance of this cancer to treatment. We must therefore focus our efforts on the characterization of the tumor / metastatic microenvironment (hypoxia, stromal cells, extracellular matrix, epigenetic). This research is important because it will provide crucial information on the molecular mechanisms of resistance to cancer and stromal cell treatment. Any innovative treatment that will stop the growth of uveal melanoma cells in the liver could turn the deadly metastatic stage into a chronic disease, impacting the overall patient survival rate.

Study of oxygen’s effects on the physiology of different eye cell types

Cell culture is essential to better understand the physiology of normal and pathological cells, as well as tissue reconstruction. It is traditionally carried out in incubators with 21% oxygen (atmospheric rate), which does not represent physiological conditions. In fact, oxygen is transported by the blood and delivered to the tissues at rates lower than 14%. This physiological oxygen level varies from one tissue to another, as well as within the tissue depending on the vascularization and metabolic activity. There is also a significant decrease in oxygen supply (hypoxia) in tumors. Several ocular pathologies affecting Canadians involve oxygen deficiency in their progression, such as uveal melanoma (ocular cancer) and diabetic retinopathy (complication of diabetes). Transfer of results obtained through research to the clinic depends strongly on their physiological validity, and thus on the maintenance of biological functions in the cells in culture, which are close to those found in the tissues of origin. It is therefore essential to modulate oxygen levels for the improvement of cell culture and tissue engineering models in ophthalmology.