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Faculty
Brunhilde Felding-Habermann
Associate Professor
Department of Molecular and Experimental Medicine
TSRI - 1993
Education
Ph.D., Philipps University Marburg, Germany, 1984
Research Focus
Mechanisms of tumor metastasis
Our goal is to define molecular mechanisms that control tumor metastasis. We developed experimental models for human breast cancer, particularly for metastasis to the brain, to address four major questions:
- Which cells are responsible for metastatic dissemination?
- Which are key genes and functional properties that promote tumor metastasis?
- How can we target metastatic tumor cells and inhibit functions that are essential for cancer spreading?
and - How does the host microenvironment control tumor development and dissemination?
Hypotheses and approaches guiding our studies are that a population of aberrant stem-like cells within a breast tumor is critically involved in the initiation of metastatic disease; that these cells express constitutively activated adhesion receptors which promote tumor cell dissemination; and that these activated adhesion receptors can serve as targets for the identification and inhibition of metastatic tumor cells. We found that brain metastatic breast cancer cells adapt to the microenvironment of the brain and that these changes, revealed by proteomic and gene expression analysis, provide clues for functional pathways that control metastatic activity.
Selected References
Felding-Habermann B, Lerner RA, Lillo A, Zhuang S, Weber MR, Arrues S, Gao C, Mao S, Saven A, Janda KD. Combinatorial antibody libraries from cancer patients yield ligand-mimetic ARG-Gly-Asp-containing immunoglobulins that inhibit breast cancer metastasis. PNAS 101:17210-17215, 2004.
Chen EI, Hewel J, Krueger JS, Weber MR, Tiraby C, Kralli A, Becker K, Yates JR III, Felding-Habermann B. Adaptation of energy metabolism in breast cancer brain metastases. Cancer Res 67(4): 1472-1486, 2007.
Palmieri D, Chambers AF, Felding-Habermann B, Huang S, Steeg PS. The biology of metastasis to a sanctuary site. Clin Cancer Res 13(6): 1656-1662, 2007.
Jain S, Zuka M, Liu J, Russell S, Dent J, Guerrero JA, Forsyth J, Maruszak B, Gartner TK, Felding-Habermann B, and Ware J.Platelet glycoprotein Ib supports experimental lung metastasis. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 104(21):9024-8, 2007.
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