cancer-cell EMT and immune infiltration

Views:603       Publish Time: 2019-09-18

EMT of cancer cells can be responsible for cancer metastasis. It has been shown that cancer-cell EMT can be induced by interactions with cancer-killing immune cells. On the other hand, cancer-cell EMT can help to exclude cancer-killing immune cells from the tumor microenvironment. Therefore, in the literature, the association between the EMT status of cancer cells and the infiltration of immune cells in tumors is inconsistent. Furthermore, elucidating the mechanistic links between the two can help to reduce the metastasis, and improve the infiltration of cancer-killing immune cells in tumors, which will help to improve patients' survival and their response to immunotherapies.

In our lab, we are aiming at establish the mechanistic link between cancer-cell EMT and the immune-infiltration in solid tumors, by studying the TCGA database so far and cell co-culture experiments in the future.