Seminar

Understanding cancer beyond proliferation

Oihana Iriondo

For many decades, the idea of tumors as masses of cells that proliferate without control has governed the way cancer is understood, deeply affecting how the disease is diagnosed, treated and also studied. However, there are different cell types or cell states in cancer for which proliferation is not a predominant characteristic, and yet, these cells play a fundamental role in the progression of the disease and our inability to cure it. We can think about these cells as “Reservoir cells”, because they specially come to play when conditions in the microenvironment become rough, and proliferation takes a backseat for the benefit of survival. In this seminar, I will talk about my past work studying some of these cell types, like cancer stem cells and circulating tumor cells, and the way they interact with their microenvironment. In addition, I will share data on my ongoing project in the Cancer Cell Signaling and Metabolism Lab, focused on the molecular characterization of a different type of “reservoir cells”, the drug tolerant persister cells, and I will discuss how understanding how cancer cells acquire a persister phenotype when subjected to anticancer treatment can contribute to the development of treatment combinations that will elicit more durable responses in cancer patients.