Laboratory of Cancer Metastasis and Dormancy

Current cancer therapies often fail to prevent later relapses. Moreover, they fail to treat metastatic disease. We believe that by targeting the sources of those metastases we can prevent metastasis formation. What are these source cells? Our investigation provides evidence that the source of metastasis are cancer cells that have left the primary site (i.e. mammary gland tissue) and arrived at secondary organs such as bones. We have also shown that these disseminated cancer cells (also called DCCs) remain in a non-proliferative state for extended periods of time. We name this non-proliferative state as dormancy. However, upon unknown signals these DCCs start to proliferate and become metastasis. Therefore, if we understand how these cells reactivate we might have a chance to stop these DCCs from becoming a life-threatening metastasis.