New publication offers major insight into leading cause of cancer deaths

Professor Jeffrey Pollard has collaborated on a key publication which offers greater understanding of how cancer spreads throughout the human body and documents new research developments which may lead to more targeted treatments.

Professor Pollard is Director of The MRC Centre for Reproductive Health and Professor of Resilience Biology at the University of Edinburgh. He has edited and authored a chapter within the book titled, ‘Metastasis: Mechanism to Therapy’ in partnership with Professor of Molecular Biology, Yibin Kang from Princeton University.

The biological process by which cancer spreads from one organ or tissue in the body to another is called ‘metastasis’ and responsible for most deaths from the disease. How exactly cancer cells travel to different sites in the body is not fully understood by cancer biologists and clinician-scientists.

The publication documents the recent progress made in identifying the molecular mechanisms underlying metastasis and how this knowledge is paving the way for new therapeutic treatments, pointing to the significance of immunotherapy as a major player in the future of cancer survival. The authors in the volume also discuss metastasis drivers such as gene mutations and the effects of aging, while describing helpful in vivo models and techniques for studying and monitoring disease development.

Professor Pollard thanked his funders during the project, his Wellcome Trust senior investigator award and the CRUK Programme grant, as well as the Medical Research Council for supporting his Centre for Reproductive Health based at The Queen’s Medical Research Institute (QMRI).

The highly regarded global citation database, Web of Science Group, recently included Professor Pollard on the Highly Cited Researchers 2019 List. He was also placed in the top 0.01% of cited authors out of 7 million in the recent PLOS detailed analysis on impact.

CRUK in Scotland and Prof Pollard also filmed a special thank you on St Andrew’s Day to ‘the extraordinary generosity’ of those who have supported their research and have helped make a significant difference to the survival of cancer patients.

The book is available now through the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press as part of the ‘Cold Spring Harbor Perspectives in Medicine’ series.