Tumor biology, hepatic metastasis of colo-rectal carcionoma

Apart from making up a population of “professional endocytic cells”, SEC also carry out more typical vascular endothelial functions, such as adherence basis for leukocytes and platelets. To this end SEC express cell adhesion receptors and integrins that are functionally very differet from the endocytosis receptors. One project that is currently carried out in our department is based on the potential involvement of endocytosis and adhesion receptors of SEC as anchoring means for metastasizing tumor cells, in particular from primary colo-rectal tumors. A related line of studies involves attempts of activating (or inhibiting/eliminating) hepatic sinusoidal cells (including Kupffer cells, SEC, and/or hepatic natural killer cells) to determine the role of these cells in the natural and stimulated anti-metastasis defence. We are particularly interested in the possibilities of modifying the functions of SEC since very little is known about the ability of these cells to kill tumor cells.