Huge news! Our research is out in Nature✨
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
We’ve uncovered that oncofetal plasticity in colorectal cancer arises far earlier than anyone expected. Providing a new lens on how cancers transition to metastatic disease.
Big thanks to my team and collaborators!
Snippert lab
And no, presence of oncofetal plasticity does not equate to metastatic disease 🔥 💣 🤯
To understand how invasive phenotypes first emerge, we generated multiregional organoid models that reflect successive tumor progression stages within individual early-stage CRCs. Whole-genome sequencing 🧬 and growth factor-dependency assays 💊 exclude tumor cell-intrinsic acquired traits.
Fibroblast-organoid co-cultures 🧫 confirm that these trophocyte-like CAFs induce plastic transitioning to oncofetal states. Their interaction follows from invasive growth into the submucosa and dictates the timing and location at which oncofetal plasticity first occurs during CRC progression.
Immense gratitude to the whole team and superior collaborators Leon Moons and Miangela Laclé.
Big thanks to our funders @erc.europa.eu KWF ZonMw @oncodeinstitute.bsky.social @umcutrecht.bsky.social @themaximacenter.bsky.social
Single-cell spatial atlases 🌍 of tumors pre-and post malignant transformation revealed stereotypic patterning of fibroblast subtypes resembling normal tissue architecture. Of interest: the first cancer-associated fibroblasts resembled submucosal trophocytes and colocalize with oncofetal cells
With @julian-buissant.bsky.social @jorihag.bsky.social Sascha Brunner and Suzanne van der Horst, we pivoted our focus to the earliest stages of cancer 🔬
Malignant transformation is a milestone in tumor evolution but still a "black box"
My lab's ambition became prevention of metastatic disease 🙅
Snippert lab
Very proud to share our new paper on early cancer progression, published in Nature!
Beyond the science itself, this project really shows what strong interdisciplinary collaboration can achieve. I feel grateful to have been part of this amazing team.
Check out our discoveries below!
Short write-up of our journey. Searching for T cell transcription factors, Marc v/d Wetering stumbled across Wnt signaling. Vladja Korinek linked Wnt to colon cancer and crypt biology. Nick Barker discovered the gut stem cell. Toshi Sato invented organoids authors.elsevier.com/a/1n3No6tu0C...
Snippert lab
Snippert lab
new out in Nature www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Snippert lab
Snippert lab
Snippert lab
Video
Metastasis-associated oncofetal cell states emerge at the earliest stages of colorectal cancer and spatial profiling shows stereotypic patterning of fibroblast subtypes resembling normal tissue archit...
Huge news! Our research is out in Nature✨
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
We’ve uncovered that oncofetal plasticity in colorectal cancer arises far earlier than anyone expected. Providing a new lens on how cancers transition to metastatic disease.
Big thanks to my team and collaborators!
