CCBIO webinar: Jean Paul Thiery

Jean Paul Thiery
Bioland Laboratory, Guangzhou Institutes of Biomedicine and Health, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, China, and Centre for Cancer Biomarkers (CCBIO), University of Bergen

We previously proposed that epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), a developmental mechanism, becomes high-jacked by carcinoma cells for their invasion and metastasis and have established an EMT scoring system applicable to all carcinomas. In this presentation, I will briefly discus when and how an EMT phenotype can be acquired in the primary tumors or in circulating tumor cells (CTCs). I will then describe our strategy to harness the EMT concept as a complementary strategy to currently available targeted therapeutics. I shall present the potential to treat mesenchymal-like tumors in bladder carcinoma based on our analysis of the mechanisms driving EMT in this tumor type. I will also show that we can potentially improve immunotherapy-based treatment by interfering with the EMT phenotype.

Chairperson: Agnete Engelsen, CCBIO