Thrilled to share a new publication from IMol!
Congratulations to the first author, doctoral researcher Alicja Mazan-Bury from the Laboratory of Molecular OncoSignalling headed by Prof. Anna Marusiak, and to the entire research team on this important achievement.
Our study, published in Cell Death & Disease, uncovers a key role of the kinase MLK4 in triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC). We found that MLK4 helps cancer cells communicate with macrophages in a way that promotes tumor progression.
The study revealed a CXCL1–MLK4 signaling pathway that strengthens the interaction between cancer cells and macrophages, leading to:
• faster tumor cell growth
• increased invasiveness
• remodeling of the tumor microenvironment that supports cancer spread
Importantly, we also observed that higher MLK4 levels are associated with increased macrophage infiltration into tumors.
Why is this important?
Understanding how cancer cells interact with immune cells provides critical insight into the mechanisms driving tumor growth and metastasis. These findings may contribute to the development of more precise and effective targeted therapies for aggressive breast cancers such as TNBC.
