CancerPrev brings together researchers, clinicians and patient advocates to develop new approaches to cancer prevention, connecting mechanistic research with clinical experience and the perspectives of people directly affected by cancer.
FIELD CANCERIZATION AND TISSUE REMODELING
Field cancerization is a condition of major clinical significance, closely linked to aging and the progressive acquisition of genetic and epigenetic changes, in which tissues are transformed into cancer-prone states that generate multiple and recurrent lesions. Our program investigates how common determinants of this process across cancer and stromal cells interact with organismal determinants, including sex and inherited genetic background. We study how cancer-prone states are sustained through epigenetic forms of biological memory, and how this memory can be reversed, with the ultimate goal of therapeutically redirecting cancer-prone tissue states.
Invasive lobular breast cancer is a distinct and understudied form of breast cancer, strongly influenced by hormonal signaling and interactions with the surrounding tissue microenvironment. Our program investigates the mechanisms underlying the development and progression of lobular breast cancer, using physiologically relevant experimental models to uncover hormonal and stromal determinants of disease. By identifying vulnerabilities that distinguish lobular from other forms of breast cancer, we aim to develop new approaches for risk reduction, prevention and targeted intervention.