Columbia University Irving Medical Center New York, New York
Associate Professor, Department of Surgery Associate Dean of Postdoctoral Affairs
Understanding the mechanism of metastasis to the lungs to identify new biomarkers and therapeutic targets to prevent it.
Metastatic disease is a multistep cascade and is the primary cause of death in patients with breast cancer. Remodeling of the tissue extracellular matrix – the supportive structure of tissue – fosters the growth of cancer cells, but the mechanism is not well understood in the pre-metastatic niche. Since the lung is the most common site of metastases, Dr. Ryeom and her team are investigating the role of normal lung cells in the colonization of metastatic tumor cells. Specifically, they are interested in cells that line blood vessels called endothelial cells (ECs) and their role in the creation of a hospitable environment or pre-metastatic niche in the lung that allows tumor cells from the breast to survive, grow, and form metastatic tumors.
Cancer cells secrete soluble factors that prepare distant organs for eventual cancer colonization. In Dr. Ryeom’s current research, she and her team focus on identifying unique factors secreted by breast cancer cells that activate lung ECs to promote colonization of cancer cells in the lung. They are also interested in how immune cells contribute to the formation of pre-metastatic niches and are working to identify the specific immune cell population that prepares the lung for seeding by breast cancer cells.
Once these factors and immune cell populations are identified, the team will determine whether blocking their function inhibits or slows breast cancer metastasis to the lung in laboratory models. These experiments may lead to new therapeutic targets that prevent or slow metastasis in patients. The team may also be able to monitor levels of these factors and immune cells in patients’ blood to predict if their cancer will spread to the lung.
Sandra Ryeom, PhD is an Associate Professor in the Department of Surgery and the Division of Surgical Sciences at Columbia University Irving Medical Center. She is also an Associate Dean of Postdoctoral Affairs and New Master’s Degree Programs. Dr. Ryeom’s research interests focus on understanding the role of endothelial cells and fibroblasts in the tumor microenvironment and in metastases. Dr. Ryeom completed her bachelor’s degree in physics from Wellesley College and doctoral degree in cell biology and genetics at the Weill Cornell Graduate School of Medical Sciences. Dr. Ryeom completed her training with a postdoctoral fellowship in cell biology at Harvard Medical School. She started her independent career at Children’s Hospital in Boston as an Instructor at Harvard Medical School followed by her move to the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine where she was a tenured Associate Professor in the Department of Cancer Biology prior to her move to Columbia University Medical Center.
2016
The Garrett B. Smith Foundation/S. Arthur and Dorothy Neufeld Foundation Award
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