Read Time: 2 minutes
Author: The Welm Labs
Takeaways:
- The Welm labs are working to understand why 20–30% of breast cancers recur as metastatic disease, even when no spread is detected at diagnosis.
- Advanced tumor models and clinical partnerships are helping identify personalized treatment strategies and new therapies to prevent and treat metastasis.
Impact: Through collaborative research and innovative clinical trials, Huntsman Cancer Institute is advancing personalized approaches to prevent and treat metastatic breast cancer.
Dear Patients and Families,
Our lab focuses on breast cancer and works to understand why it sometimes spreads to other organs. This process, called metastasis (also known as Stage 4 cancer), is the leading cause of death from breast and other cancers.
One of the biggest unanswered questions in breast cancer is why 20–30% of cases eventually return in distant organs—even when no metastasis is detected at the time of diagnosis. How do these cancer cells survive in the body despite state-of-the-art treatment?
Our research aims to identify what makes those 20–30% of tumors different, why they spread, and how to eliminate them. By answering these questions, we hope to develop more effective treatments to prevent metastatic recurrence and better therapies for patients once metastasis is diagnosed. This work is especially important because once metastatic cells become detectable, they are often resistant to current treatments.
The labs of Alana Welm, PhD, and Bryan Welm, PhD, work together to develop new models of advanced breast cancer. We grow patient tumors in mouse mammary glands and in three-dimensional gels called organoids, which closely mimic the tumor’s natural environment.
These models allow us to do the following:
- Predict whether a patient is at high risk for metastasis
- Test new drugs
- Identify which FDA-approved therapies may be most effective for an individual patient
We conduct this work in close partnership with Christos Vaklavas, MD, head of the breast cancer clinical program at Huntsman Cancer Institute, in the context of novel clinical trials.
As you move through treatment, please know that our dedicated team of technical staff, PhD students, and postdoctoral fellows works tirelessly every day—and often late into the night—to advance breast cancer research with patients always at the center of our efforts.
Thank you,
The Welm Labs
Our doctors and researchers are sharing hope with patients and their loved ones. Read more Letters of Hope.