2014 UALC
Andrew Beardsley, MD, PhD
University of California, San Francisco
Research Project:
Targeting of Cell-Cell Adhesion in NSCLC as a Novel Therapeutic Approach
Summary:
The recent discovery of metastasizing clusters of cancer cells from the blood of lung cancer patients upends decades-long dogma that adhesion between cancer cells necessarily impedes metastasis. Furthermore, this provocative finding raises the broader possibility that cell-to-cell adhesion may actually contribute to the growth and survival of lung cancer cells. As a UALC fellow, I am investigating novel roles for cell-cell adhesion in lung cancer, including growth and survival signaling, as well as the contribution of strong intercellular adhesion to the mechanical integrity and shape of tumors. Ultimately, I will test the efficacy of combinatorial adhesion molecule blockade on tumor maintenance in animal models.