Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University and Fox Chase Cancer Center Researcher Receives Grant to Explore Chemotherapy’s Role in Cancer Relapse

Lucia Borriello, PhD, an Assistant Professor in the Department of Cancer and Cellular Biology at the Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University and a member of the Cancer Signaling and Microenvironment Research Program at Fox Chase Cancer Center, has received a $150,000 grant from the Concern Foundation. Borriello will lead a two-year project, “Role of Chemotherapy in Promoting Awakening of Dormant Tumor Cells and Metastatic Relapse,” that will be supported by the Conquer Cancer Now grant.

“It’s such an honor to receive this award from the Concern Foundation. This has really allowed us to open a new direction in our laboratory,” said Borriello.

“This project addresses the idea that while chemotherapies kill most tumor cells, they also induce changes in the tissues surrounding tumors that can influence whether and when the few surviving tumor cells are able to start growing again as metastases,” she said. “Better understanding the full effect of chemotherapies on normal cells will help us to develop therapies that target both growing metastases and dormant tumor cells for reducing metastatic breast cancer progression.”

Borriello added that the award would not have been possible without the support of her department chair, Erica Golemis, PhD, and her mentoring committee, especially Edna “Eti” Cukierman, PhD, Co-Leader of the Cancer Signaling and Microenvironment Research Program.

“I strongly believe that nothing ever comes from just one principal investigator. I feel privileged to work with such a strong and supportive team. This grant will foster more connection between the medical school and Fox Chase and emphasize how the combined expertise of researchers across the Temple system can work toward beating cancer.”

Borriello earned her doctorate from the University of Paris. She then completed postdoctoral work in hematology and oncology at the Children’s Hospital Los Angeles and the University of Southern California, and in anatomy and structural biology at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York. Her research focuses on dormant cancer cells and breast cancer, with a particular emphasis on controlling lung metastases.

She is an active member of several professional associations, including the American Society for Cell Biology and the American Association for Cancer Research, and is a board member of the Metastasis Research Society.

The Concern Foundation was founded 55 years ago by a group of friends who lost a loved one to breast cancer. The foundation focuses on immunology, immunotherapy, genetics, and cell biology to understand proper and improper cell behaviors related to cancer and its treatment. Their grants fund promising cancer research scientists in the early stages of discovery.