Stem cells, immune evasion and metastasis in colorectal cancer
Dr. Eduard Batlle, ICREA & Cancer Science Program. Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona). The Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology (BIST). Barcelona. Spain.
Junio 27 – 12:30h
Salón Forteza, CIPF
Abstract: Most colorectal cancer (CRC) patients die as a result of metastasis. Neither conventional chemotherapy nor current targeted therapies offer significant benefits once the disease has spread to distant organs. Furthermore, current CRC staging based on histopathology and imaging has a limited ability to predict the evolution of the disease. We discovered that vast majority of genes that distinguish poor prognosis CRC subtypes are expressed by cancer-associated fibroblasts. We showed that metastasis relies on a tumor cell non-autonomous program driven by TGF-beta in the tumor microenvironment, which drives T cell exclusion and immune evasion. Here I will discuss our latest data on how stromal cells help disseminated tumor cells evade the attack of the immune system and the design of new therapeutic strategies based on targeting the tumor microenvironment.
