A brain cancer is malignant tumor growth within the brain or central spinal canal. The severity of the threat depends on tumor type, location, size, and state of development. Wistar researchers are focusing on medulloblastomas, the most common pediatric brain tumors, and glioblastomas, the most common and aggressive form of malignant brain cancer.

Breast cancer is a leading cause of cancer-related death in women. Wistar researchers study the genetics and molecular events that underlie breast cancer development and metastasis with the hopes of applying that knowledge to better diagnose and treat the disease.

Cancer vaccines are designed to prevent the further development of a patient’s cancer by stimulating a patient’s immune response. The term can also be applied to vaccines against viruses that cause cancer. The Wistar Institute’s wide-ranging cancer vaccine development program encompasses treatment vaccines against colorectal cancer, melanoma, and the human papillomavirus, which has been linked to cervical cancer.

Cancer is one of the most complex diseases to study, and the utilization of both cell and tissue models offer scientists the opportunity to study and evaluate the biological behavior of various tumor types. Because metastatic cancers are particularly difficult to characterize, the development of different tissue and cell models can help scientists better understand how cancer cells react to different environments.

Epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is a process that causes epithelial cells, which cover the surfaces and linings of most body structures, to change into mesenchymal cells, which carry with them capabilities often associated with metastatic cancers –an increase in the ability to move throughout the body, and resistance to apoptosis or programmed cell death. While naturally occurring and beneficial in early development, EMT has been linked to a number of cancers.

Experimental therapeutics is the science of turning the basic processes and mechanisms of human biology into new, more effective drugs and medical devices. One goal is to create more “personalized” therapeutics to better fit the biology of individual patients with higher efficacy, more specificity, and lower side effects.

The new wealth of information about the human genome has led to a surge in the role of functional genomics, which seeks to uncover the function of newly discovered genes and their expressed proteins. Functional genomics explores the dynamic processes that regulate both genes and proteins.

Inflammation – appropriately derived from the Latin, inflammare, to set on fire – is how the body responds to injury or infection. It involves white blood cells, part of the immune system designed to fight off foreign pathogens such as bacteria and viruses. Inflammation is now believed to be a component of several major diseases including atherosclerosis, cancer and rheumatoid arthritis.

Kinase signaling is a process that helps coordinate and amplify communications between cells; kinases are enzymes that add a phosphate group to macromolecules and alter their actions. While protein kinases are the largest group, other types of kinases work with carbohydrates, lipids and amino acids. Therapeutics that inhibit kinases are often used in cancer treatment.

Leukemia is a cancer of the blood cells or bone marrow, characterized by an abnormal increase in white blood cells. The term “leukemia” covers a spectrum of diseases, and leukemia may be acute or chronic, and it may be lymphocytic (affecting white blood cells called lymphocytes) or myelogenous (affecting white blood cells called myelocytes). Lymphomas are a group of blood cancers that develop in the lymphatic system, which is part of the immune system. The two main types are Hodgkin lymphoma and non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

Lung cancer is cancer that begins in the lungs. There are two main types – non-small cell lung cancer, the most common type, and small cell lung cancer. Lung cancer is considered the deadliest type of cancer for both men and women, and more people die of lung cancer than breast, colon, and prostate cancers combined.

Ovarian cancer is cancer that begins in the ovaries. Ovarian cancer is frequently undetected until it has spread within the pelvis and abdomen. At this late stage, ovarian cancer is often fatal. At Wistar, research addressing the tumor microenvironment is demonstrating efficacy in killing ovarian tumor cells and may slow aggressive forms of the cancer.

Melanoma is considered the most dangerous type of skin cancer, and is the leading cause of death from skin disease. The disease originates in cells called melanocytes, which produce the pigment melanin that is responsible for skin and hair color. When melanocytes are damaged, usually by exposure to ultraviolent rays, they can turn malignant.

Metabolism, the chemical processes that convert food to fuel, is what allows us to reproduce, grow and thrive. Among the metabolic processes that convert or use energy are blood circulation, food digestion and nervous system function. There are two types of metabolism: catabolism, which breaks down organic matter; and anabolism, which produces various cellular components such as proteins and nucleic acids.

Metastasis or metastatic disease is the spread of cancer from one part of the body to another. When it occurs, cancer cells break from the primary tumor, invade blood vessels and the lymphatic system, and from there circulate to normal tissues some distance from the original site and establishes new tumors. The most common sites of metastasis from solid tumors are the lungs, bones, liver, and brain.

Nearly all diseases have a molecular as well as a genetic basis, which can often be found in a single molecule, usually a protein, which is either missing in the cell or is abnormal in some way.

The pancreas, a large organ found behind the stomach, helps the body absorb foods like fat. Although the exact cause of pancreatic cancer isn’t known, its risk increases with age and in people who smoke or are obese. Pancreatic cancer is difficult to treat, even when uncovered at an early stage. It spreads quickly, and symptoms may not appear until it is well advanced.

Prostate cancer is cancer that starts in the prostate gland, a walnut-sized organ that is part of the male reproductive system and surrounds the urethra, the tube that passes urine. Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men, and the third-leading cause of cancer death in men, regardless of age.

Signal transduction is the transfer of signals from outside the cell to the inside, which creates a cellular response. These signals are carried by receptors that span both sides of the cell membrane; an outside molecule binds to the receptor, alters its shape and sends a signal to the cell’s interior. Ultimately, this may result in changes to gene expression or the activity of various cellular enzymes.

Stem cells have the ability to develop into many different cell types. They can renew themselves nearly indefinitely, and change into other types of more specialized cell such as muscle or brain cells. So-called cancer stem cells are thought to drive metastasis and drug resistance.

Telomeres, bits of repetitive DNA sequences on the tips of chromosomes, are important for maintaining the stability and integrity of our genetic code. During normal cell division, telomeres are shortened. In humans, this shortening process as well as the activation of an enzyme called telomerase has been closely linked to cancer and aging.

The biology of tumors can change dramatically once a malignancy spreads beyond the primary cancer site. Therefore, gaining a better understanding of that biology is necessary to develop more effective treatments. The study of tumor biology focuses on the role that genes, hormones and naturally occurring tumor suppressors play in the growth of tumors.

Cancer does not exist in a biological vacuum but is influenced by its immediate surroundings – what is known as the tumor microenvironment. The tumor microenvironment involves the chemical conversations going on between cancerous cells and the cells that surround and support them. It is the tumor microenvironment that makes it possible for tumors to change from benign to malignant to metastatic.