Alessandro Fatatis, Drexel University Medical School
Title: "Homing and Metastatic Progression of Cancer Cells in the Skeleton"
Abstract: Several solid tumors show a remarkable propensity to disseminate and grow at the skeletal level. These metastatic lesions are the main cause of death from prostate and breast cancer, as curative therapies are still lacking. We have used pre-clinical models to validate small-molecule antagonists of a chemokine receptor implicated in the seeding of breast cancer cells to the bone. Furthermore, we have identified a cytokine supporting the survival and growth of prostate cancer cells in the bone-metastatic niche.