Project 4

Imaging Lymph Node Metastases
Ruth Muschel, M.D., Ph.D., Project Leader

http://www.med.upenn.edu/camb/faculty/cgc/muschel.html
Children's Hospital of Philadelphia

This project focuses on a poorly understood and understudied aspect of tumor progression: the development of lymph node metastases. Lymph node metastases have been shown to correlate with a more advanced state and to carry a worse prognosis for virtually every tumor type. However there are currently no good methods to image lymph node metastases with high sensitivity in a non-invasive manner. There are also no good models to image the genetic determinants that confer increased lymph node spread. This project is focusing on the development of standard quantitative techniques for the establishment of lymph node metastases using dual green fluorescent protein as well as luciferase to tag tumor cells, including a plan for validation. A more innovative direction includes the development of methodologies to image single metastatic cells which if successful offers great potential as a diagnostic tool. The development of a model using in vivo imaging to detect tumor metastases would represent a major breakthrough in research aimed at understanding and conquering this deadly phenomenon. The availability of this model will greatly accelerate the pace of translational research by providing a powerful tool to visualize the process and ultimately introduce therapeutic agents that can intervene in its progression.