ZMB Member Barbara Grüner
ZMB Member
Barbara M. Grüner
Next ZMB-Member
Prof. Dr. Barbara M. Grüner
Department of Medical Oncology
West German Cancer Center (WTZ)
University Hospital Essen
Hufelandstraße 55
45122 Essen
- +49 201 723 8142
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Oncology
Research Overview
Molecular Mechanisms of Tumor Metastasis and Therapy Resistance
Several factors contribute to the poor outcome of cancer patients, but the ability of cancer cells to leave the primary tumor and establish inoperable metastases is a major impediment to successful therapy. Although most cancer patients die of complications resulting from the effects of metastases, the basic molecular and cellular mechanisms that endow a tumor cell with the ability to leave the primary tumor, survive during transit through the blood, and establish and maintain a new tumor in a secondary organ remain incompletely understood.
Using advanced patient-derived murine tumor models of Pancreatic Cancer that closely resemble the human disease and combining those with powerful quantitative genetic tools we are scrutinizing the molecular mechanisms that allow cancer cells to metastasize and how this process can be inhibited. Given the cancer’s high intrinsic resistance to established and newly developed targeted therapies we furthermore use these models to study the underlying mechanisms of resistance and how they can be overcome, getting one step closer to personalized, efficient cancer therapy.
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Selected Publications
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Altered mitochondria functionality defines a metastatic cell state in lung cancer and creates an exploitable vulnerabilityIn: Cancer Research Vol. 81 (2021) Nr. 3, pp. 567 - 579Online Full Text: dx.doi.org/ Online Full Text (Open Access)
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Cancer cells stock up in lymph vessels to surviveIn: Nature Vol. 585 (2020) Nr. 7823, pp. 36 - 37Online Full Text: dx.doi.org/ Online Full Text (Open Access)
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Axon-like protrusions promote small cell lung cancer migration and metastasisIn: eLife Vol. 8 (2019) pp. e50616Online Full Text: dx.doi.org/ (Open Access)
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Molecular definition of a metastatic lung cancer state reveals a targetable CD109-Janus kinase-Stat axisIn: Nature Medicine Vol. 23 (2017) Nr. 3, pp. 291 - 300Online Full Text: dx.doi.org/ Online Full Text (Open Access)
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An in vivo multiplexed small-molecule screening platformIn: Nature Methods Vol. 13 (2016) Nr. 10, pp. 883 - 889Online Full Text: dx.doi.org/ Online Full Text (Open Access)
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Modeling therapy response and spatial tissue distribution of erlotinib in pancreatic cancerIn: Molecular Cancer Therapeutics Vol. 15 (2016) Nr. 5, pp. 1145 - 1152Online Full Text: dx.doi.org/ (Open Access)
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Nfib Promotes Metastasis through a Widespread Increase in Chromatin AccessibilityIn: Cell Vol. 166 (2016) Nr. 2, pp. 328 - 342Online Full Text: dx.doi.org/ (Open Access)
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Pancreatic cancer modeling using retrograde viral vector delivery and in vivo CRISPR/Cas9-mediated somatic genome editingIn: Genes and Development Vol. 29 (2015) Nr. 14, pp. 1576 - 1585Online Full Text: dx.doi.org/ (Open Access)
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MALDI imaging mass spectrometry for in situ proteomic analysis of preneoplastic lesions in pancreatic cancerIn: PLoS ONE Vol. 7 (2012) Nr. 6, pp. e39424Online Full Text: dx.doi.org/ (Open Access)
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Identification of epidermal pdx1 expression discloses different roles of notch1 and notch2 in murine krasG¹²D-induced skin carcinogenesis in vivoIn: PLoS ONE Vol. 5 (2010) Nr. 10, pp. e13578Online Full Text: dx.doi.org/ (Open Access)