Question ID: WS-102
Submitted by: Rhoda Alani
June 29, 2011
What are the molecular determinants of tumor metastasis and are those specific to particular metastatic sites? How are the metastasis programs for different tumors determined? Are they fixed from the onset of the malignancy? Are they influenced by the tumor microenvironment? Are they mutable? e.g., does a melanoma that metastasizes to the brain only want to go to this metastatic site? Could a different tumor microenvironment influence a tumor to metastasize to another site? Could this metastatic program be shut off completely? There kinds of questions can now be addressed given recent advances in the development of in vitro tumor model systems. In particular, advances in microfluidics and polymer chemistry allow for the development of highly relevant model systems in which to precisely assess the molecular mediator of tumor metastasis using high-throughput technologies. The combination of novel nanotechnologies, engineering tools, systems biology, and cancer biology research tools can be used to ask these questions in a relevant in vitro model system and test these predictors of metastasis in vivo and through analysis of human tumors. Such questions would allow for the development of novel prognostic tools to determine from a primary tumor its likelihood of metastasis, identify the critical mediators of metastasis for a particular tumor, and delivery of tumor-suppressive agents through a personalized approach to prevent metastasis in patients. This would allow cancer to be more of a manageable chronic disease rather than a ticking time bomb with uncertain outcome.
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