Grant: CIHR Fellowship

Metastasis, the spread of tumour cells to other organs, is the cause of death in breast cancer patients. Tumour cells can spread through two main routes, blood vessels and lymphatic vessels. The new formation of these vessels is associated with poor disease outcome in breast cancer. Recent studies have revealed that tumour cells can stimulate the formation of new lymphatic vessels in their local environment. Our group has previously demonstrated that interaction between signalling molecules Src and ezrin regulates the local invasion and spreading of aggressive breast cancer cells. Interestingly, preliminary data indicate that Src/ezrin can also induce the production of growth factors responsible for stimulating the formation of new blood vessels. We propose that breast cancer cells exploit the Src/ezrin signalling pathway to stimulate the production and release of factors that function to stimulate the formation of new blood and lymphatic vessels in the tumour's environment and accelerate the metastasis process.