Finding out what makes metastatic cancer cells so adaptable
90% of cancer deaths are caused by metastasis. What is metastasis? Why are metastatic cancer cells so hard to target? Are they different than the cancer cells in the primary tumor? What opportunities for treatment are there? To answer these questions we spoke with former American Cancer Society grantee Karuna Ganesh, MD, PhD, a physician scientist and Assistant Member at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. Dr. Ganesh is a GI medical oncologist who runs a lab that’s trying to understand what it is about metastatic cancer cells that make them so deadly and how we can target them. 1:20 – A simple, clear explanation of what metastasis is 2:31 – Why would cancer cells leave their neighbors and seek alternative housing? Moving is stressful; why not just stay put? 5:14 – On why the concept of “wound healing” is so important in cancer research 9:30 – How metastasis is wound healing gone wrong—cellular processes used in a good way for wound healing could be used in a bad way in metastasis 14:56 - Are the cancer cells that metastasize the ‘same’ in their new location as they were in their old one? 18:23 – What are targeted therapies? 20:14 – If cancer cells that ‘move’ and cancer cells that ‘stay’ are different, how might we use targeted therapies to treat metastatic disease? 21:21 – Why she’s so excited about the state of the field 23:11 – The impact of ACS funding on her career 24:49 – Her message for cancer patients and caregivers