Barbara Fingleton PhD

The overarching theme of my laboratory is delineating the positive and negative roles of molecules that are typically considered immune-associated, in solid tumors. In particular, we focus on colorectal and breast cancers and the process of metastasis. Despite excellent recovery rates for patients with locally confined cancers, once there is metastatic disease, survival rates are reduced dramatically. We want to understand what makes cancers spread where, and when they do?; how do cancerous cells survive in different tissue environments such as lung or liver?; and, most critically, how can we find and treat metastatic disease? We are interested in two particular classes of inflammation-associated molecules as molecular determinants of metastasis: matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) and interleukins.