The role of the tumor biofilm in determining tissue tropism

转移仍然是癌症患者死亡的主要原因。弥散性肿瘤细胞（dtc）离开原肿瘤，开始转移级联。在循环系统成功导航后，这些dtc的一部分然后通过远处的毛细血管退出并渗透到组织实质。这些dtc通过粘附、重塑和增殖等尚不清楚的机制在新环境中定居。本研究的目的是揭示肿瘤细胞在化学和物理上都与原始组织不同的组织中异位定植的机制。在肿瘤转移过程中控制组织趋向性的遗传因素已经确定，但肿瘤细胞之间的动态相互作用以及转移细胞的微环境的贡献尚未得到很好的了解。在这里，我们的目标是了解这些环境变化发生的生物物理机制，以及这些变化是否可以逆转或阻止。

Metastasis remains a leading cause of mortality for cancer patients. Disseminated tumor cells (DTCs) leave the original tumor to initiate the metastatic cascade. After successful navigation of the circulatory system, a subset of these DTCs then exits via capillaries at a distant site and infiltrate the tissue parenchyma. These DTCs colonize this new environment by poorly understood mechanisms involving adherence, remodeling, and proliferation. The objective of this proposal is to uncover the mechanisms by which a tumor cell can ectopically colonize a tissue that is both chemically and physically different from its original tissue. The genetic factors governing tissue tropism in cancer metastasis have been identified but the contributions of the dynamic interactions between tumor cells, and the microenvironment of the metastasizing cells are not well understood. Here we aim to understand the biophysical mechanisms by which these environmental changes occur, and whether such changes can be reversed or blocked.