Investigating Tumor Cell Resistance to Targeted Therapies with Andriy Marusyk, PhD

New findings in the understanding of tumor cell resistance to therapies—a main contributing factor to tumor recurrence —are being discovered and analyzed.

Tune in to learn:

• How cancer cells develop resistance to certain drugs
• Whether tumor cells coordinate action amongst themselves and act as one entity
• Why a drug that initially has excellent clinical responses ultimately fails to prevent tumor recurrence 
• How tumor cells change within a matter of hours following targeted therapy

In the Marusyk Lab at Moffitt Cancer Center, Andriy Marusyk, PhD is studying how cancer develops resistance to targeted therapies, with the aim of better understanding how tumors change over time and evolve in response to therapy-induced pressures. Equipped with this knowledge, Marusyk believes we’ll be that much closer to knowing how to obtain better treatment outcomes.

He explains the design of his experimental system and shares some early research findings. “We’ve found that we cannot explain resistance with any single mechanism; instead, resistance appears to reflect a combined output of multiple individual changes.” Marusyk goes on to elaborate on the nature of these changes, and the implications for cancer therapy in general.

Press play to hear the full conversation and check out https://moffitt.org/research-science/researchers/andriy-marusyk/ to learn more about Marusyk’s research.

Episode also available on Apple Podcasts: apple.co/30PvU9C