Roughly 90% of all cancer deaths are due not to the primary tumor itself but to the effects of the metastatic spread of the disease. Yet virtually nothing is known about this process. How do cancer cells leave their primary site? How do they traverse through the blood system and take up residence elsewhere? In our Ludwig Center for Molecular Oncology we are identifying the genes that encourage metastatic spread and the pathways that allow cancer cells to survive and thrive in distant sites in the body.
Research Summary The goal of this area is to elucidate the molecular basis of metastasis. Last year more than half a million Americans died from cancer. Worldwide the number exceeded 7.5 million. Strikingly, roughly 90% of these cancer deaths were due not to the primary tumor itself but to effects of the metastatic spread of the disease. Yet despite the obviously lethal effects of metastasis, virtually nothing is known about this process. Given the assembly of powerful new tools to dissect the molecular and cellular basis of metastasis, we are organizing a concerted effort to understand this process in detail. How do cancer cells leave their primary site? How do they traverse through the blood system and survive there? How do they establish residence at distant sites?
With grants from the Virginia and D.K. Ludwig Fund for Cancer Research, MIT has formed a new center to focus on the problem of metastasis. The MIT Ludwig Center for Molecular Oncology will involve multiple members of MIT's extended cancer research community and the Koch Institute working together to identify the genes that encourage metastatic spread and the pathways that allow cancer cells to survive and thrive upon their dissemination. New approaches in molecular imaging and cellular detection will also be developed within this program to identify sites of metastasis early in the disease course and to follow the navigation of metastatic cells throughout the body.
By uncovering and understanding the nature of the molecules responsible for metastasis, our investigators hope to discover the means to inhibit the initial spread of cancer cells and/or eliminate them more efficiently, wherever they might reside.
