CCBIO Special Seminar – Srinivas Malladi

We are happy to invite you to a CCBIO Special Seminar December 12th at 12.00.

Speaker: Dr. Srinivas Malladi from the Department of Pathology, UT Southwestern, Dallas.

Title: "Metastatic Latency - Models and Mechanisms"

Place: Birkhaugsalen, 3rd floor Sentralblokken (hospital main building)

Abstract: Metastasis frequently develops years after the removal of a primary tumor, from a minority of disseminated cancer cells that survived as latent entities through unknown mechanisms. We isolated latency competent cancer (LCC) cells from early stage lung, breast and kidney cancer cell lines and defined the mechanisms that suppress outgrowth, support long-term survival, and maintain tumor-initiating potential in these cells during the latent metastasis stage. Breast and Lung adenocarcinoma LCC cells are enriched for SOX family transcription factors and self-impose a slow-cycling state by expressing WNT inhibitor DKK1. Slow cycling LCC cells downregulate NK cell activating ULBP ligands and evade NK-cell-mediated clearance. Comparative examination of LCCs and their metastatic counterparts reveal distinct signaling and metabolic circuits in LCC cells.  We are now systematically investigating the molecular and cellular determinants of metastatic latency in these models to reveal new vulnerabilities that can be targeted to eliminate LCC cells. 

Bio: Srinivas obtained his Ph.D. from The University of Texas at Austin and then joined Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center as an American Cancer Society Fellow with Dr. Joan Massague. He was then recruited to UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas as CPRIT fellow in 2017. His lab in the Department of Pathology is focused on understanding how disseminated cancer cells survive and give rise to overt metastasis at a cellular and molecular level using a multidisciplinary and integrative approach.

Chairperson: James Lorens