Bladder cancer occurs in about 63,000 Americans per year and kills about 12,000. Some bladder cancers are highly aggressive whereas others are indolent but tend to recur.
Bladder Cancer
Our research is aimed at understanding how the complex interplay between cancer cells and their local environment affects the progression and clinical response to therapy of these cancers.
Cancer cells, normal cells and the extracellular matrix (ECM) form a complex system, and the components cannot be studied in isolation. Until recently, most research was carried out with cells cultured on plastic Petri dishes. This model loses all the complex interactions between cells and the ECM. Cells grown on an ECM show difference in gene expression from cells grown on plastic.
The ECM dramatically affects the malignant behavior of cancer cells. On normal ECM, they lose many of their malignant properties which are expressed only when the ECM is remodeled to be "cancer friendly." Cancer cells may not even be recognizable as cancer cells.
What makes a cancer aggressive or indolent is not entirely clear. Our work has shown that the extracellular matrix (ECM) plays a major role in aggressiveness. This research may help identify markers for cancer progression as well as new targets for therapy
In earlier research, we investigated the identification of biomarkers for detection of bladder and prostate cancers.
Hematoxylin and eosin labeled transverse sections of 3-dimensional cultures
A, B: TCCSUP, a highly undifferentiated line. The arrow indicates one of the connecting processes.
C, D: J82 line, also a highly undifferentiated line.
E, F: 253JB-V line, a metastatic phenotype derived from the 253JP line.
G, H: 253 JP line, a low-grade tumor line.
I, J: RT4, a papilloma line.
