AG Tumor metabolism (Tasdogan)
Distant metastasis is responsible for over 90% of deaths in cancer patients. Metastasis is an exceedingly complex process that involves an interplay between cancer cells and the microenvironment as well as intrinsic pathways in cancer cells. During metastasis, cancer cells undergo intravasation, transport through the circulatory system, arrest at a secondary site, extravasation, invasion of adjacent tissues, and growth in a secondary organ. Cancer cells undergo important metabolic changes that enable them to survive dissemination through the metastatic cascade.
Our labs focus is to better understand how metastatic melanoma cells adapt their metabolism at different stages of metastasis and to characterize the metabolic plasticity in metastatic melanoma tumors to dissect stage-specific metabolic adaptations for novel therapeutic strategies.