The Ones that Got Away: Dissecting Plasticity to Target Cancer Resistance and Recurrence

Abstract

The modern challenge of oncology is not the primary tumor, but its capacity to disperse seeds that resist therapies and recur aggressively later in life. Cancers do not remain static; they constantly evolve to yield subpopulations of highly plastic, stem-like cells that drive relapse. In the clinic, this cellular plasticity manifests as striking disparities in patient survival and treatment responses across tumor origins. To decode these realworld patterns, Dr. Agelidis presents a translational framework that integrates clinical analytics with advanced molecular approaches. He will outline how single-cell stemness grading, digital pathology and emerging stem-sensing T cell therapies can collectively map and target dedifferentiated cell states that drive metastasis and recurrence. This multidisciplinary strategy aims to pinpoint which patients are vulnerable to relapse and intercept metastatic disease before it takes hold.