A cross-disciplinary team from MECCC coordinates with Stanford University, Columbia University, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, University of Wisconsin–Madison, and other partners to study breast cancer relapse.

Co-leaders span cancer biology, pathology, epidemiology, imaging, and bioinformatics, drawing from Stanford, Columbia, Mount Sinai, Wisconsin–Madison, and additional institutions.

The project is funded by NCI grant 1P01CA295557, for the study titled Mechanisms of Early Breast Cancer Local and Distant Relapse.

The study title is Mechanisms of Early Breast Cancer Local and Distant Relapse and it carries the NCI grant 1P01CA295557.

Key aims include identifying characteristics of early disseminated cancer cells that survive treatment, developing relapse-risk biomarkers, and creating therapies to prevent recurrence.

Research focuses on cancer dormancy and early metastatic spread to understand dormant cell features and to predict and prevent relapse.

MECCC is an NCI-designated comprehensive cancer center in the Bronx, formed by Montefiore Health System and Albert Einstein College of Medicine, with broad NIH funding and multiple research programs.

Led by Julio A. Aguirre-Ghiso, Ph.D., the project brings together a multidisciplinary MECCC team and partner institutions to study dormancy and metastasis.

The National Cancer Institute awarded MECCC a five-year, $10 million grant to investigate mechanisms of breast cancer relapse and dormancy.

The grant supports an MECCC-led, multi-institutional effort to study breast cancer relapse mechanisms and dormancy.

Einstein’s Nanoengineering and Imaging Device Core will use advanced in vivo imaging to track disseminating cancer cells, with co-leaders from institutions including the University of Albany.

Project components include molecular signaling of early dissemination, tumor microenvironment interactions, biomarkers for recurrence, epidemiology, risk and screening insights, advanced in vivo imaging, and large-scale multi-omics analysis.