Role of the novel plasminogen receptor, calreticulin in oncogenesis

The spread of cancer, called metastasis, is responsible for 90% of cancer deaths. Dr David Waisman and his team have identified a protein found on the surface of connective tissue cells called calreticulin (CRT) that they believe is essential in the cellular processes that enables cancer cells to spread. With funding from an Atlantic Canada Research Grant, the Waisman lab is testing their hypothesis by comparing the behaviour of actual cancer cells and non-cancerous connective tissue cells to special copies of these cells that have been engineered without CRT proteins. The researchers will expose these cells to a drug that stimulates the CRT protein and measure the rate of tumour growth and invasiveness. If CRT is found to be a key component of metastasis, it would open the door to new treatments to stop the spread of cancer. In the future, a new drug could be developed to delay or even halt the spread of cancer and could potentially improve outcomes and save lives.