"Our goal is to dissect the cooperative heterotypic reciprocal signaling between the microenvironment and tumor epithelial compartments that govern tumor growth and metastasis. In direct collaboration with physicians a major emphasis is to accomplish clinical translation of our findings so that patients directly benefit".
Human non-small cell lung cancer showing epithelial cells (red) and bone marrow cells (green)
We study cancer cell intrinsic and extrinsic programs that regulate tumor growth and metastasis. Cancer cell intrinsic programs include aberrant signaling pathways mediated by loss of tumor suppressor genes and activation of oncogenes. Our approach is to investigate these pathways at several levels including transcriptional regulation, epigenetic regulation, and regulation by small regulatory RNAs. Cell extrinsic programs include the contribution of the tumor microenvironment. Here we are interested in dissecting the complexity of various cell types recruited from the bone marrow that comprise the tumor microenvironment. We also study the cooperative heterotypic reciprocal signaling between the bone marrow stroma cells and tumor epithelial compartments that influence tumor progression. Finally, we are interested in understanding how these two programs are integrated to regulate key tumorigenic processes including angiogenesis, inflammation, epithelial to mesenchymal transition, metastasis initiation and progression. A major aim is to rapidly validate insights obtained from these investigations in preclinical and clinical settings, and to determine the diagnostic and therapeutic potential of candidate molecules in collaboration with clinicians.
Artist's perspective of the tumor microenvironment
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