Collaborative research projects will focus on studies of cancer dormancy and metastasis

BRONX, N.Y., Nov. 3, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — The National Cancer Institute (NCI) has awarded a multidisciplinary and multi-institutional team led by Julio A. Aguirre-Ghiso, Ph.D., of Montefiore Einstein Comprehensive Cancer Center (MECCC), a five-year, $10 million grant to uncover the biological processes that drive breast cancer relapse and identify new opportunities to predict and prevent recurrence.

Up to an estimated 685,000 people die from breast cancer globally each year, according to the NCI, with nearly all fatal cases resulting from disease that has returned in other organs years or even decades after surgery, chemotherapy, or radiation. Research suggests that even a small, localized tumor may have already generated micrometastases—small amounts of cancer cells that have spread beyond the original tumor but cannot be detected by screening or diagnostic tests. Because these cells may have traveled beyond their initial tumor location, they can remain in the body after the primary tumor is removed or treated, lie dormant for years, and later “reawaken” and cause breast cancer to recur.

Exploring Cancer Dormancy
The new research will address one of the least understood and most consequential areas of cancer biology: the characteristics of early disseminated cancer cells that survive surgery and other treatments by remaining dormant. Understanding these cells’ distinguishing features could help scientists detect them and develop therapies that eliminate them before the cancer returns.

“For two decades, we have been pioneering a new era of cancer research that could enable more precise, proactive treatments designed to prevent recurrence and improve long-term remission,” said Dr. Aguirre-Ghiso, professor of cell biology, of oncology, and of medicine and the Rose C. Falkenstein Chair in Cancer Research at Albert Einstein College of Medicine. “By closing gaps in our understanding of breast cancer relapse, our goal is to identify who is most at risk of recurrence and find ways to intercept cancer before it returns.” Dr. Aguirre-Ghiso also serves as MECCC’s associate director of basic science, co-leader of the Tumor Microenvironment & Metastasis Program, and director of the Cancer Dormancy Institute.

The researchers will analyze clinical data and tissue samples from people with ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS), an early, non-invasive form of breast cancer. They will use the findings to investigate the mechanisms that allow cancer cells to spread early and determine whether specific characteristics of those cells are associated with subsequent relapse. 

Combining Expertise Across Disciplines
The multidisciplinary project brings together investigators with expertise in cancer biology, pathology, epidemiology, imaging, and bioinformatics. 

“Montefiore Einstein is bringing together researchers across institutions to tackle a question that no single discipline can answer: why do some breast cancer cells spread early and reappear years later?” said Dr. Aguirre-Ghiso. “By connecting patient data and tissue samples with laboratory studies and advanced imaging, we hope to identify who is at risk of relapse and find ways to prevent it.”

• Dr. Aguirre-Ghiso, Christina Curtis, Ph.D., professor of genetics at Stanford University, and Jianlong Wang, Ph.D., professor of medical sciences at Columbia University and its Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center, will lead a project to study breast cancer models and human samples to understand the molecular signaling that regulates early cancer cell dissemination. They will also examine how cancer cells interact with immune cells and other cells in their microenvironment in ways that may facilitate their spread and survival elsewhere in the body.
• David R. Entenberg, Ph.D., associate professor of pathology, and co-director of the Gruss Lipper Biophotonics Center, will co-lead another project collaborating with Miriam Merad, M.D., Ph.D., chair of the department of immunology and immunotherapy at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, to study macrophages—immune cells that have been shown to help breast cancer cells spread—to determine how different macrophage populations contribute to cancer cell dissemination.
• Maja H. Oktay, M.D., Ph.D., professor of pathology at Einstein, will provide expertise on breast cancer pathology to identify biomarkers associated with local and distant recurrence in DCIS samples.
• Thomas E. Rohan, M.B.B.S., Ph.D., D.H.Sc., professor of epidemiology & population health at Einstein, will lead the epidemiological analyses of the patient cohorts.
• Amy Trentham-Dietz, Ph.D., professor of population health sciences at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, will contribute expertise in breast cancer risk, screening outcomes, and survival. The researchers will also draw on large patient cohorts with DCIS to investigate factors associated with recurrence.
• Einstein’s Nanoengineering and Imaging Device Core, led by Dr. Entenberg, will use advanced in vivo imaging techniques to identify cancer cells that disseminate and metastasize, and develop tools to track those cells in living tissue. This work will be co-led by Nathaniel Cady, Ph.D., Distinguished Professor in the College of Nanotechnology Science, and Engineering at the University of Albany.
• Deyou Zheng, Ph.D., professor of genetics in the Saul R. Korey Department of Neurology and the Dominick P. Purpura Department of Neuroscience at Einstein, will oversee the bioinformatic analysis of large genomic, epigenomic, and proteomic datasets generated by the project.
• Xiaonan Xue, Ph.D., director of the Biostatistics Shared Resource at MECCC, will oversee the project’s biostatistical analyses. Her expertise includes analyzing time to recurrence, evaluating changes over time, and developing and evaluating cancer screening studies and models that predict cancer risk and outcomes. 

The study, “Mechanisms of Early Breast Cancer Local and Distant Relapse,” is supported by NCI grant 1P01CA295557.

About Montefiore Einstein Comprehensive Cancer Center
Montefiore Einstein Comprehensive Cancer Center (MECCC) is a National Cancer Institute (NCI)-designated comprehensive cancer center and a national leader in cancer research and clinical care located in the racially and ethnically diverse borough of the Bronx, N.Y. MECCC combines the exceptional science of Albert Einstein College of Medicine with the multidisciplinary and team-based approach to cancer clinical care at Montefiore Health System. Founded in 1971 and an NCI-designated cancer center since 1972, MECCC is redefining excellence in cancer research, clinical care, education and training, and community outreach and engagement. Its mission is to reduce the burden of cancer for all, especially people from historically underrepresented groups.

About Albert Einstein College of Medicine
Albert Einstein College of Medicine is one of the nation’s premier academic centers for basic science research, clinical investigation, and biomedical education. Located in the Bronx, Einstein is home to nearly 1,000 M.D., Ph.D., and M.D./Ph.D. students and more than 2,000 full-time faculty members. Einstein receives approximately $200M in funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) each year and houses six NIH-funded research centers, in cancer, intellectual and developmental disabilities, clinical and translational research, AIDS, and two in diabetes. In partnership with Montefiore Health System, Einstein advances clinical and translational research to accelerate the pace at which new discoveries become the treatments that benefit patients. For more information, please visit einsteinmed.edu, and follow us on Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and view us on YouTube. 

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