Novel Concepts in the Biology and Treatment of Metastatic Cancer

Chaired by Dr. Jonathan Sleeman (University of Heidelberg), Dr. Bruce Zetter (Boston Children's Hospital) and Dr. Andreani Odysseos (EPOS-IASIS).

Metastatic disease, the lethal component of cancer, remains largely intractable to modern medicine. New insights into the biology of metastasis promise fresh insights into how to design therapies that effectively tackle this life-threatening disease process. Recent years have seen the development of novel tools for studying metastasis that continue to provide dramatic advances in our understanding of the cellular and molecular mechanisms that drive metastasis formation. Metastasis is regulated by both tumor cell-intrinisic factors such as genetic defects, epigenetic perturbation and metabolic changes, as well as by a variety of factors in the microenvironment, including cells of the immune system. These tumor cell-intrinsic factors combine with the external microenvironment to regulate tumor dormancy and the development of therapy resistance. This knowledge is starting to be translated into therapies that target not only the metastatic seed but also the microenvironmental soil.

Key Sessions

1. Therapy-induced metastasis and the patient with metastatic disease
2. Metabolic changes that drive metastasis
3. Metastatic dormancy - maintenance and escape
4. Novel approaches to pharmacology and drug delivery for the  treatment of metastases
5. Control of metastasis by inflammation and the innate immune system
6. Targeting the metastatic microenvironment
7. Novel tools for studying metastasis
8. Cancer Stem Cells - Do we all mean the same? A controversy session.

Programme is now available at https://www.fusion-conferences.com/conference51.php