Tissue-specific communication in colon cancer metastasis

Colon cancer is one of the most commonly diagnosed and deadliest cancer types worldwide. If the cancer is diagnosed early, where it is still restricted to the colon, it can often be treated well with surgery, radiation, or regular chemotherapy. However, if the cancer spreads to other organs of the body, treatment becomes much more difficult, which greatly lowers patients survival rates. The spread of cancer cells is called metastasis and happens, when cancer cells break away from the original tumor and travel through the blood to other organs, where they form new tumors. As the cells move, they face many challenges such as attack by the immune system or deprivation of certain nutrients or growth factors, urging them to adapt to different environments in order to survive. Only a very small fraction of cancer cells leaving the colon is actually capable of conquering all those obstacles and successfully colonize different organs. Recently, the Ganesh Lab has discovered that colon cancer cells that metastasize to the liver have the ability to quickly adjust to this new environment and resist chemotherapeutical treatment. Changing and surviving under pressure is a trait known as phenotypic plasticity. While the liver is the most common organ for colon cancer to spread, it can also reach the lungs and, to a lesser extent, the brain. These organs are very different from each other, and we still dont fully understand how cancer cells adapt to each of them. In the process of metastasis, its not only the cancer cells that undergo certain changes, but also healthy cells in the close tumor environment, for example immune cells, start behaving differently. At first, these normal cells try to fight the tumor, but over time, they begin to support its growth. My project aims to study how colon cancer spreads and behaves in the liver, lungs, and brain, and how cancer cells interact with healthy cells surrounding the tumor along the way in metastatic progression. Understanding these changes could lead to better treatment options for metastatic colon cancer and improve patient survival.