Bassel El-Rayes, MD

Colorectal cancer is a leading cause of cancer death in the U.S. A major challenge in the treatment of cancer in general, and colorectal cancer specifically, is the ability of cancer cells to travel throughout the body and get into other organs. This means that we need medicine that attacks the cancer anywhere in the body. Cancer cells live with other types of cells that help it survive our medicines and let the cancer move around. The focus of my research is to make the cancer more susceptible to medication and less able to move around. This grant will test a new medicine that changes the blood vessels and cells that support the cancer. We will do a clinical trial adding this new medicine to the normal ones already used to treat colorectal cancer. This research will help find new treatments but also teach us more about the cells that support cancers and how to stop them.