Uncovering how the tumour microenvironment can make cancer cells more aggressive

Meet the scientist

Professor Sastre Garzón started working in cancer hoping to apply his experience in other areas of biology to a big problem for society – he is supported by his wife and daughter, both of whom are also cancer researchers! Outside of the lab, he enjoys reading and learning about history, and has one dog, two cats, and a variety of plants at home.

The science

Tumours are not just a bundle of identical cancer cells; in fact, they are complex ecosystems made up of cancer cells and many other types of cell. Together they form something called a tumour microenvironment. In a similar way to how soil nurtures plants to grow, the tumour microenvironment helps the tumour to grow and spread. 

In oral cancer, a type of head and neck cancer, the main cells in the tumour microenvironment that influence this change are cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs). They disrupt the cellular machinery that reads instructions off DNA. This causes the cancer cells to change and gives them the ability to spread into surrounding tissue through the ‘soil’ and colonise other areas. 

Professor Sastre Garzón and his team want to understand how the CAFs communicate with the cancer cells to cause that change. They hope that unpicking this process will reveal new ways to prevent this spread happening or destroy the cells that have already spread.