THE CHEUNG LABORATORY
Studying Collective Tumor Cell Interactions
at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center
collectively invading breast tumor in vivo 
leader cells invading from breast tumor organoid 
intravascular tumor cell cluster in vivo 
CTC-clusters from a patient with metastatic breast cancer 
intercellular ‘nanolumenal’ compartments between clustered tumor cells 
CTCs and CTC clusters from a rat model of breast tumor dissemination
Our lab uses 3D tumor organoids, time-lapse imaging, and in vivo animal models to discover and characterize the physical and biochemical interactions giving rise to collective tumor cell dynamics and emergent multicellular behaviors. We study these processes in breast cancer, a disease affecting one in eight women worldwide and which depends on collective interactions for its progression to lethal metastasis. Through this lens, we aim to find new ways to eradicate breast cancer cells, prevent their metastatic dissemination, and overcome their therapy resistance.
Recent Posts
- Lab receives Medical Research Grant from the Robert J. Kleberg, Jr. and Helen C. Kleberg Foundation (3/28/2024)
- Ami’s tumor dissemination paper comes out in PNAS! (2/28/2023)
- Lab receives Kuni Foundation Grant (1/1/2023)
- Beth is awarded an American Cancer Society Postdoctoral Fellowship (12/15/2022)
Featured Papers
- Yamamoto A et al. Metastasis from the tumor interior and necrotic core formation are regulated by breast cancer-derived angiopoietin-like 7. PNAS 2023.
- Yamamoto A, Doak AE and Cheung KJ. Orchestration of Collective Migration and Metastasis by Tumor Cell Clusters. Annual Reviews of Pathology 2022.
- Wrenn ED et al. Regulation of collective metastasis by nanolumenal signaling. Cell 2020.