The combination of poor cancer therapy response and the presence of tumour metastasis are responsible for the high mortality rate in cancer. The goals of this project are to understand the processes that promote the survival of circulating micro-metastases following their dissemination from the primary tumour site, the characteristics of the tumour microenvironment that facilitate the survival and seeding of circulating micro-metastases and the mechanism of chemotherapy resistance in these micro-metastatic cells. Genomics and proteomics approaches have been undertaken to identify the changes associated with the survival of circulating micro-metastatic cells and with the survival of established distant metastases. This project will provide a greater understanding of the mechanisms involved in metastasis and therapy resistance, revealing targets that are amenable to therapeutic approaches which may be clinically effective at multiple levels of tumour progression.
Understanding the contribution of chemotherapy resistant cancer cells and the tumour microenvironment in gastrointestinal tumor metastasis
Canada’s Michael Smith Genome Sciences Centre respectfully acknowledges that we operate on the traditional, ancestral and unceded territories of the xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh), and Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish) nations who have cared and nurtured this land for all time. We give thanks, as uninvited guests, to be able to live and work on these lands.
