UAB researchers win grant to study metastasis of dead cancer cells

March 09, 2016

The new grant expands on a research partnership between Selander and her team of researchers and those working in the laboratory of David Graves, Ph.D., chair of the UAB Department of Chemistry. Graves and his team are characterizing the DNA structures and other factors that induce metastasis in surviving cancer cells.

The pathway activated by the dead cancer cells is mediated in the body as a protein called toll-like receptor 9, or TLR9. This protein is present in the immune system and in many types of cancer. If TLR9 boosts metastasis, then researchers will work on finding targeted therapies that block or regulate this molecular pathway, Selander says.

UAB's grant from the Department of Defense Breast Cancer Research Program is designed to reward innovative research projects that could lead to major scientific and health advances.

Source: UAB College of Arts and Sciences