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This project will examine the invasion and spread of cancer cells.
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Situation
Skin cancer is the most common cancer in the UK with at least 70,000 new cases being diagnosed every year. The incidence of malignant melanoma has increased four-fold in men and three-fold in women in the last 25 years. Melanoma, a type of skin cancer, develops when a single cell begins to multiply out of control and form a tumour. Some cancer cells may break away and travel to other parts of the body via the blood stream or the lymphatic system (a network of tubes through which tissue fluid drains into the blood stream) to start new tumours. When this invasion occurs successful treatment is much more difficult than if the tumour is caught early. This project will examine the invasion and spread of cancer cells. The researchers will use tumour samples from melanoma patients, and aim to improve the understanding of early invasion of cancer cells into the lymphatic system. This could lead to better diagnostic and prognostic methods and potentially identify new therapeutic targets. The research team will also use experimental models, growing cells in the laboratory, to study how the melanoma cells adhere to lymphatic vessels and migrate into them, thereby allowing their spread around the body. Once this process is understood it will offer researchers opportunities to develop strategies to inhibit it. This year long project will cost £10,000, which covers the cost of the consumables.