Cancer Program
People
- Bernstein, Bradley
- Lin, Charles
- Mahmood, Umar
- Mempel, Thorsten
- Pittet, Mikael
- Ramaswamy, Sridhar
- Weissleder, Ralph
Funding
- Tumor Microenvironment PO1
- PDAC PO1
- Molecular Imaging Center P50
- Cancer Nanotechnology U54
- SAIRP U24
- GI Spore
The Cancer Program brings together a scientific community focused on understanding in vivo cancer biology at the systems level and applying this knowledge to early cancer detection and therapy assessment. Program members work within CSB, the MGH Cancer Center and/or other MGH laboratories. Strong collaborations exist also with the MIT Center for Cancer Research, the Harvard Cancer Center and the Broad Institute. Currently, major areas of interest include:
Profiling circulating tumor cells (CTC)
Detection and isolation of viable (non-apoptotic) CTC as well as real-time molecular profiling of these cells has become a clinical necessity for prognostic and therapeutic decisions. This program brings together scientists that develop next generation tools and apply them to clinical studies.
Tumor microenvironment
The growth of a tumor and its ability to progress and metastasize is influenced by a variety of stomal cells and matrix components. However the precise mechanisms of action employed by the microenvironment to influence tumorigenesis are poorly understood. The program utilizes recent advances in intravital imaging as well as nanoscale materials to quantify, catalog and model cellular and molecular immune components of the tumor microenvironment in vivo. This serves to identify which key parts are altered during tumor initiation and/or are critical for tumor progression and metastasis, and thus have clinical potential.
Early cancer detection
Detection of stage I cancers is associated with >90% 5-year survival rate, and treatment is often curative. This program defines molecular and cellular alterations that signal the presence of (pre)cancers and develops novel diagnostic platforms such as endoscopic fiber-optic microscopy for noninvasive in vivo screens.
Drug efficacy
Todays molecularly targeted therapeutics often dictate objective efficacy read-outs as these therapeutics are often costly, only work well in subgroups of patients and so those associated toxicity in non-target populations can be minimized. This program develops and tests novel read-outs of emerging therapeutics. Another aspect of this program is the development of nanotechnology–based diagnostic and therapeutic ('theranostic') agents.
Pathway analysis
The key role played by kinases in the vast majority of cancer suggests that specific inhibitors whose disposition could be ascertained in vivo would be useful in biological research and, potentially, for imaging kinase acitivity in a clinical setting. The program uses novel tools to identify kinase and other molecular signatures in cancer cells, and to interrogate the effects of anti-kinases and other drugs on these pathways.