Michelle Williams

Summary

Despite high prevalence and mortality rates, few research programs focus on breast cancer liver metastasis and little is known about the impact of metastatic breast cancer cells on the liver microenvironment. My research program seeks to fill these gaps in knowledge by testing the impact of breast cancer cell secreted factors on the liver metastatic microenvironment focusing on cytokines and metabolites. Our overall goal is to identify targetable pathways to enhance immune cell presence and activation at this deadly metastatic site. Current research is focused on addressing the following questions:

Do suppressive T cells support breast cancer liver metastasis progression and treatment resistance?

Can tumor secreted metabolites impact tissue resident macrophages in the metastatic liver?

Does tumor cell heme catabolism act as a metabolic switch in breast cancer liver metastases?