Grant: Project Grant

For many types of cancer it is the spread of the tumor away from its original location that ultimately proves lethal. This process, called metastasis, is driven by cell motility (movement). My laboratory studies a protein called FMNL2 that regulates cell motility. Research from my lab, and others, suggests that FMNL2 activity is essential for metastasis of melanoma, colorectal cancer and possibly many other tumours. The goal of this project is to test this idea directly and thereby determine if we can block metastasis when we eliminate the function of FMNL2 in melanoma cancer cells. The first generation of drugs that inhibit the activity of proteins like FMNL2 have now been developed. Thus this research will provide a foundation for the development of future treatments that will prevent FMNL2-dependent tumor metastasis.