Eavesdropping on Tumor Cell-Cell Communication In Vivo
Abstract
Prostate tumors have a remarkable ability to adapt to their environment and evade treatment. If we could control this power of adaptability, we would eradicate the tumor s resistance to therapy and limit its capabilities to survive in metastatic niches. We propose that the secret for the surprising adaptability and resilience of prostate tumors is found in the high interactivity of the tumor cell community. We believe this is comparable to the complex interaction and resulting robustness of social insect states. Targeting tumor cell-cell communication is a radical paradigm shift away from killing individual cancer cells, but provides the only means to actually collapse the tumor system as a whole and heal patients. Otherwise, this collective tumor intelligence easily adapts to therapy and even withstands the loss of many individual tumor cell members to grow back more aggressive and more resistant than before. But we don t even know how tumor cells communicate with each other, or who is talking to whom and under which circumstances. Addressing the overarching Fiscal Year 2014 (FY14) Prostate Cancer Research Program (PCRP) goal to "develop effective treatments and address mechanisms of resistance for men with high-risk or metastatic prostate cancer," we will develop three tools that (a) form a permanent record of cell-cell communication, (b) provide a snapshot of who is currently communicating with whom, and (c) cause communicating tumor cells to die. This will address two of the FY14 PCRP focus areas, namely (1) understanding resistance to therapy and (2) identifying new targets of treatment. If this high-risk, high-reward project is successful, it will allow us for the first time to eavesdrop on tumor cell-cell communication during metastasis, changes in tumor dormancy/aggressiveness, and the development of therapy resistance. Ultimately, we anticipate this research to guide the development of revolutionary treatments for prostate cancer that cause the prostate cancer communication network to collapse and thereby achieve durable long-term therapy efficacy.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Apr 04, 2016
- Source ID
- W81XWH1510134
Entities
People
- Claudius Mueller
Organizations
- George Mason University
- United States Army