Metastasis. It’s the word cancer patients dread most – and the scan with ominous black spots showing the disease has spread. For too many people, metastatic cancer is kept at bay only for a short time, with chemotherapy and radiation, before the disease returns or the harsh treatments fatally weaken the body.
For more than 20 years, Dr. Nancy Du, associate professor of pathology and laboratory medicine and the Rasweiler Family Research Scholar in Cancer Research at Weill Cornell Medicine, has researched how metastatic cancer arises. With a $500,000 grant over three years from the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs at the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), she was poised to study how to prevent cancer from spreading to the bones of patients with estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer.
“The first line of treatment for this type of cancer is endocrine therapy; but soon after treatment, the cancer becomes resistant to treatment,” she said. “So, we are trying to determine what makes the cells stop responding. We have a clue, and we are testing our hypothesis to develop a better treatment plan for these patients.”
Du had recently begun the research when she received a stop-work order from the DoD in April.
“We were very close to having enough data to begin testing our idea in the clinic,” she said. “Our project had been chosen for funding because of our promising results.”
Using preclinical models, Dr. Du’s team has provided critical insights into why some experimental cancer drugs aimed at preventing cancer from spreading haven’t worked as expected, and how to improve them.
Dr. Du’s research on the mechanisms driving the spread of cancer is part of a well-established, successful model for drug discovery.
“Unlike industry, academic labs funded by government grants are free to explore fundamental biological questions, such as how and why cancer cells spread, without the immediate pressure of commercial outcomes,” Dr. Du said. “This freedom allows academic scientists to pursue bold, new hypotheses that can lead to breakthrough discoveries.”
The cost of halting this type of research is immense. An estimated $200 billion was spent on cancer care in the United States in 2020, according to one study. And the personal toll that metastatic cancer takes on patients and their loved ones is incalculable.
Like many, Dr. Du has personally witnessed the devastating results when cancer treatments fail. Her father suffered from toxic treatments before dying of metastatic cancer. “I saw the side effects from chemotherapy – how he suffered from a treatment that indiscriminately kills healthy cells, including brain cells, as well as the cancer cells.
“Imagine a targeted therapy that cures the cancer with minimal side effects,” she said. “That is what we are trying to achieve.”
More stories in the Research at Risk series can be found here.