We will combine light-sheet imaging, laser ablation experiments, and computational modelling to understand the differences that lead to the two distinct directions of epithelial expansion – and thus to the two very different clinical patients’ presentations and prognoses.
In the process of cancer progression, epithelial overgrowth results in the disruption of the normal epithelial architecture, and tumour cells either fill the cavities that they line or they invade the underlying layers and metastasize. The clinical outcome therefore not only depends on the rate of growth, but also on the direction of its spatial propagation. This is particularly true for bladder carcinomas. Patients whose tumours grow into the bladder lumen can be easily treated by transurethral resection of the tumours, while patients with muscle invasive- forms have a worse prognosis.
