CASTING

Cancer is one of the main cause of death in developed countries. Despite significant progress over the last years, many fundamental questions related to cancer development remain widely open, like for instance the evolution of tissues, from normal to preneoplasia and to established malignant tumor, and how they evolve under the selective pressure of treatments. At first it was believed that a malignant tumor was the result of successive mutations of a single cell which was the origin of large clones. It is now admitted that malignant tumors are heterogeneous and seen as a whole ecosystem which includes a large variety of different genotypes and phenotypes in perpetual evolution.

Our aim is to combine mathematical modeling and computational biology together with in vitro, ex vivo and in vivo experiments to better understand the evolution of different populations of cells within its ecosystem, at all stages of the disease, from normal to preneoplasia, to established malignant tumors, and under the selective pressure of therapy.

We are focusing on understanding the evolutionary dynamics during early stages of tumorigenesis as well as the evolution under the selective pressure of systemic therapy.  The goals are

1-to improve risk assessment and to develop the rational for innovative interception and preventive strategies, and

2-to optimize systemic therapies in established tumors.

The team is is co-led by P. Saintigny (Professor and Hospital Practitioner, Centre Léon Bérard) and H. Leman (researcher, Inria).