Tumor Environment and Metastasis

Northwestern University At Chicago, Evanston IL

Investigators

Linked publications & trials

Abstract

ABSTRACT – TUMOR ENVIRONMENT AND METASTASIS The Tumor Environment and Metastasis (TEAM) Program of the Lurie Cancer Center (LCC) is a multidisciplinary basic science program with a focus on cell adhesion, tumor immunology, inflammation, and the lymphovascular system and its role in cancer. TEAM investigators work to elucidate how interactions between tumor cells, immune cells, and components of the host stromal microenvironment mediate tumor development and progression. TEAM Program members address the following three specific aims: (1) Determine how cells interact with each other and their matrix and define how adhesion-mediated cellular events affect tumor cell plasticity, invasion, and metastasis; (2) Elucidate the role of the extracellular matrix and the lymphovascular system in tumor progression and therapeutic resistance; and (3) Understand the role of innate and adaptive immune systems in cancer initiation and progression and develop strategies to effectively activate the immune system against cancer. The TEAM Program has 47 core members from 12 departments and 2 schools at Northwestern University. Program members are highly interactive, collaborating on basic and translational research initiatives. Over the course of the current funding period, program members have published 869 cancer-relevant scientific articles. Of these, 45% were in high-impact journals, 23% were intra-programmatic, and 43% were inter-programmatic. The TEAM Program has $19,054,717 in direct cancer-relevant peer-reviewed funding, with $4,493,058 of this from the NCI and $14,561,659 from other NIH institutes and grant agencies. TEAM members lead multiple projects in large collaborative grants, including two NCI-funded SPORE grants. The three program co-leaders include Hidayatullah Munshi, MD, a physician scientist, with expertise in cell-matrix interactions and matrix-driven drug resistance; Luisa Iruela-Arispe, PhD, whose research work is focused on vascular morphogenesis and the role of lymphovascular system in cancer, and Bin Zhang, MD, PhD, a tumor immunologist with a long-standing interest in developing novel therapies to activate the anti-tumor immune response. Given their complementary expertise, the TEAM leaders are optimally positioned to promote inter- and intra-programmatic interactions and to create interdisciplinary teams that advance TEAM’s basic science discoveries towards clinical translation with a positive impact on the LCC catchment area and community.