ABOUT US:

OUR MISSION:

To Determine the Biological and Clinical Significance of Circulating Tumor Cells

Metastasis, the major cause of mortality in patients with cancer, is caused by tumor cells that escape from the primary tumor into the bloodstream and travel through the circulation to distant sites where they develop into secondary tumors. Although these circulating tumor cells (CTCs) provide a link between the primary tumor and metastatic sites, the factors involved in circulating tumor cell survival in the blood circulation and eventual metastases are not well understood.

CTCs exist in the peripheral blood of cancer patients in low concentrations, making their isolation and identification a difficult task. Our laboratory has developed a reliable way to detect and to characterize CTCs isolated from the blood of cancer patients. We currently have multiple on-going clinical trials aimed to investigate the clinical utility of CTCs.

People: