Colorectal and Pancreatic Cancer
Colorectal and pancreatic cancers account for more than 5,000 new cases every year in Sweden alone, and both frequently spread to the liver.
We study what happens where these tumors meet normal tissue. At this interface, cancer cells reshape their surroundings. These local interactions determine how tumors grow and invade, and they are reflected in distinct histological growth patterns that predict patient outcomes.
To chart these interactions, we combine spatial transcriptomics, digital pathology of whole-slide images, and experimental models. We validate our findings in large clinical cohorts at Karolinska University Hospital, including KaroLiver, a population-based, growing and living research resource of more than 800 patients treated for colorectal liver metastases, and in pancreatic cancer, where we map the tissue niches that protect tumor cells from therapy.
Our goal is to bridge clinical and basic research: to turn insights into tumour–tissue interactions into biomarkers and new treatment strategies, tested in clinical studies such as IMAGINE.
Liver Metastases
When tumor cells metastasise to distant organs, they encounter entirely new interaction partners.
Most metastases of gastrointestinal cancers are found in the liver, where tumor cells meet novel cell types, such as hepatocytes, hepatic stellate cells, liver sinusoid cells, and Kupffer cells.
Little is known about tumor-microenvironment interactions in metastases, despite their clinical importance. Therefore, we have developed models to alter the metastatic microenvironment in the liver, and we analyse clinical samples from patients with liver metastases. Our aim is to understand how cancer cells progress in the liver parenchyma, in order to find ways to slow down or even revert this process.
