Dario Marchetti, Ph.D.: Insights Into Mechanisms of Cancer Metastasis and Dormancy

Uncovering phenotypes of patient-derived Circulating Tumor Cells (CTCs) offers the promise of dissecting CTC heterogeneity in relation to metastatic competence and determining biomarkers of therapeutic utility for improved treatment. However, it is still unknown whether and how CTCs differ in their capacity to circulate while maintaining metastatic potential.

Rates of CTC survival are highly variable, lasting less than few hours in some patients and in the order of decades in others. Dr. Marchetti’s group investigated the mechanisms of CTCs responsible for metastasis and dormancy, along with their properties and biomarker functionalities. This presentation will provide an overview of their findings.