Tumor Microenvironment Interactions in Brain Tumors

PI Name: HOLLAND, ERIC C   HOLLANDE@MSKCC.ORG 
Institute: SLOAN-KETTERING INSTITUTE FOR CANCER RESEARCH

Co-PI's:

Project 2: Joan Massague  J-MASSAGUE@SKI.MSKCC.ORG

Project 3: Johanna Joyce   JoyceJ@mskcc.org

The focus of this application is on neoplasms in the brain and how they interact with and are dependent on the brain microenvironment for their formation and maintenance. The brain is a unique environment that has tumor-stoma interactions that will not be represented in other organ sites. The team of investigators that have been assembled for this project includes leaders in the fields of primary brain tumor modeling, tumor stem cells, tumor-stoma interactions, and metastasis. Because of the technologies and systems used routinely in these three laboratories, they are poised to investigate biologic processes in ways that others cannot, and may even be unaware of. The importance of the brain in cancer is high as not only do patients with systemic cancer frequently die of metastases to the brain but the primary brain tumors such as gliomas are some of the most difficult tumors to treat and most lethal of all cancers. The models and technologies that they have developed will provide them with an unparalleled ability to interrogate the critical interactions between tumor cells and the normal brain environment that initiate and maintain tumors located in this organ site. Project 1 is directed by Dr. Holland and investigates the concept that infiltrating gliomas act to recruit stromal and/or precursor cells into the neoplasm and that this process leads to tumor progression. Project 2, under the direction of Dr. Joan Massague, investigates the properties of malignant tumor cells that cause them to metastasize to the brain. Project 3, directed by Dr. Johanna Joyce, investigates both primary and metastatic neoplasms for their interaction with brain stroma, with heavy emphasis on determining how the stroma responds to neoplastic cells to enhance growth properties.