Frontiers in Science

Several times a year, the Institute hosts a lecture or panel presentation by Scripps Research scientists on a particular disease, recent discovery, or the application of new knowledge to clinical practice.  The series is called Frontiers in Science.

The last Frontiers in Science took place in October in La Jolla.  Scripps Research Associate Professor Peter Kuhn addressed “Novel Approaches to Monitoring the Spread of Cancer Cells – Finding the Needle in the Haystack to Develop Specialized Treatments.”  He was joined by a breast cancer survivor who shared her thoughts on his research from the patient’s point of view.

While cancer patients are benefiting substantially from the availability of more and more treatment choices, new approaches are needed to make treatment decisions that are applicable to each individual patient.

Metastasis, the major cause of mortality in patients with cancer, is caused by tumor cells that escape from the primary tumor into the bloodstream and travel through the circulation to distant sites where they develop into secondary tumors. 

The factors involved in circulating tumor cell (CTC) survival in the blood circulation and eventual metastases are not well understood.  CTCs exist in the peripheral blood of cancer patients in low concentrations, making their isolation and identification a difficult task.  It is like both finding a needle in a haystack and reading a book in a foreign language.

Dr. Kuhn and his fellow biologists, physicists, and clinicians have developed a reliable way to detect and to characterize CTCs isolated from the blood of cancer patients, and are currently involved in multiple ongoing clinical trials. 

The messages contained in the cells that they are uncovering could aid physicians in better utilizing current therapies, as well as developing specialized treatments in the future.

For details on Dr. Kuhn’s work, please visit http://cancer.scripps.edu.

For information on Frontiers in Science, please call (858) 784-2915, or email mfenner@scripps.edu.