Research Overview

Microenvironmental conditions (e.g., 3-D cell-cell and cell-extracellular matrix interactions) are critically important in tumor induction and progression, and mediate the establishment of metastases at preferential target sites. By exploring diversified tissue-engineered model systems and polymeric growth factor delivery strategies, our research aims at elucidating microenvironmental events that currently impair the prognosis of cancer patients and to develop new drug delivery systems for more effective treatment of cancer.

Research Areas

Tumor-stroma interactions in cancer pathogenesis

The tumor stroma regulates key characteristics of malignancy including tumor growth, vascularization, and metastasis; however, many of the intrinsic signaling mechanisms are far from being unraveled. In carcinomas, the most common type of cancer in adults, stroma effects are mediated in large part via myofibroblast and adipocyte derived signals. We are studying molecular and cellular events involved in the recruitment of myofibroblasts by immune cells and investigate unidentified functions of adipose tissue potentially involved in the promotion of breast cancer.

Tumor metastasis in engineered bone microenvironments

Metastasizing tumor cells often colonize trabecular regions of skeletal bone and lead to secondary tumor growth with different patterns of bone effects ranging from osteolytic to osteoblastic occurrence. Increasing evidence indicates that pathological bone remodeling involves tumor-derived soluble factors, but it remains unclear whether microarchitectural and biomechanical stimuli may also play a pivotal role in this process. We are investigating the progression of bone metastases as a function of differential structural and biomechanical features of trabecular bone by using diversified engineered matrices and tumor models.

Bioinspired drug delivery systems for cancer therapy

Sustained tumor growth and metastasis depends on the spatiotemporal interplay between tumor cells and multiple microenvironmental conditions. Increasing evidence indicates that the efficacy of conventional chemotherapy may be fundamentally enhanced by combination therapies that target not only tumor cells, but also aberrant microenvironmental events. The supply of these substances in a timely and localized manner may be critical to their therapeutic efficacy. We are developing polymeric release systems that allow for delivery of multiple anti-tumor drugs in a well-controlled, localized, and sustained fashion for treatment of non-invasive as well as metastatic tumors.