Armando Del Rio Hernandez
Imperial College London, UK
Title: The retinoic acid receptor controls the mechanobiology in pancreatic stellate cells to suppress matrix remodelling and inhibit cancer cell invasion
Biography
Biography: Armando Del Rio Hernandez
Abstract
Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is one of the deadliest cancers with a 5-year survival rate of less than 4%. This rate has remained unchanged for the last 40 years despite advances in conventional therapies targeting cancer cells. PDAC tumours are characterised by remarkable matrix stiffness, and a strong desmoplastic reaction that is mediated by the main cellular component in the tumour microenvironment – pancreatic stellate cells (PSCs). Activated PSCs cross-talk with cancer cells to promote tumour growth, metastasis and chemoresistance, but the molecular mechanism that keeps PSCs persistently activated remains unknown. Our studies implicate retinoic acid receptor as a regulator of traction forces and mechanosensing in PSCs, and this regulation influences the capacity of PSCs to migrate, to remodel the extracellular matrix (ECM), and to promote pancreatic cancer cell invasion.