Projektbeschreibung
Verursachen Biopsie und chirurgische Eingriffe die Bildung von Krebsmetastasen?
Die Diagnose und Behandlung von Krebs erfordern oft eine Biopsie und/oder die operative Entfernung des Primärtumors, wodurch es zu Gewebeschäden kommt. Metastasierung, die Hauptursache für krebsbedingte Todesfälle, wird oft durch einzelne Zellen ausgelöst, die vom Primärtumor über die Blutbahn abgegeben werden. Dieses EU-finanzierte Projekt untersucht, ob die anfänglichen Gewebeschäden maßgeblich zur hämatogenen Verbreitung von Tumorzellen, die zur Metastasenbildung führen, beitragen. Der Schwerpunkt der Forschung liegt auf Brust- und Prostatakrebs. Dabei wird erforscht, welche Auswirkung die Freisetzung zirkulierender Krebszellen nach einer Biopsie oder einem operativen Eingriff hat. Außerdem werden neuartige Technologien angewandt, mit denen zirkulierende Zellen zwecks ihrer funktionalen Analyse erfasst werden. Zusätzlich wird das Forschungsteam Behandlungsstrategien prüfen, um die Verbreitung lebensfähiger Krebszellen in anderen Bereichen des Körpers zu verhindern.
Ziel
Background: Blood-borne metastasis of malignant cells from the primary lesion to distant organs is the major cause of cancer-related death. Most cancer patients face tissue injury at initial diagnosis when tumor tissue is obtained by biopsies to secure the diagnosis of cancer and at primary surgery required to remove the primary tumor.
Objectives: We will evaluate whether tissue injury contributes to a significant blood-borne dissemination of viable tumor cells, which is one of the most under-investigated areas in cancer research. We will focus on the two most frequent malignancies in women (breast cancer) and men (prostate cancer) that occur in the in European Union with incidence rates of 139.5 and 139.0 cases per 100,000, respectively. The current project will study the extent of the release of tumor cells into the blood circulation after needle tissue biopsies and primary surgery, the characteristics of the released tumor cells and the contribution of this release to cancer progression. Moreover, we will assess therapeutic strategies to block extravasation of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) to distant sites. As experimental approach, we will apply novel technologies for capturing CTCs and for determining their molecular characteristics in cancer patients as well as experimental models that are able to determine the functional properties of CTCs.
Impact: The results will have an important impact on medical practice. If biopsies would contribute to tumor progression, it might be a strong driving force for the development of better imaging modalities or “liquid biopsy” assays of peripheral blood that can diagnose cancer through the detection of CTCs or tumor cell products such as circulating nucleic acids (DNA, microRNA), exosomes or tumor-educated platelets. Moreover, short-term pharmacologic inhibition of extravasation might be able to prevent the extravasation of injury-released CTCs and reduce the risk of metastasis.
Wissenschaftliches Gebiet
- medical and health sciencesclinical medicineoncologyprostate cancer
- natural sciencesbiological sciencesbiochemistrybiomoleculesnucleic acids
- medical and health sciencesclinical medicinesurgery
- natural sciencesbiological sciencescell biology
- medical and health sciencesclinical medicineoncologybreast cancer
Schlüsselbegriffe
Programm/Programme
Thema/Themen
Finanzierungsplan
ERC-ADG - Advanced GrantGastgebende Einrichtung
20251 Hamburg
Deutschland