Wanlu Du

Brain metastases are the most devastating complications of cancer, occurring in one-third of advanced cancer patients. The most common sources of brain metastases are lung cancer, breast cancer, and melanoma. Metastatic cancer cells extravasate from the blood vessel, colonize, outgrow and invade within the brain. Communication between invading cancer cells and brain microenvironment is an essential event during brain metastases, however little is known about the interplay of such process. My research interests focus on, 1) selective cancer cell vulnerability; 2) interaction between metastatic cancer cells and brain residual cells. We are using various in vivo mouse models (patient-derived brain tumor xenograft, brain metastases models, etc.) and a combination of in vivo BLI imaging, mouse genetics, FACS, histochemistry, primary cell culture, and molecular/protein analysis to study the specific cancer cell vulnerability and unique interaction between metastatic cancer cells and brain residual cells. We are hoping to elucidate the underlying mechanisms with the aim of identifying new targets for future therapeutics.