Theme 3: Preventing and Treating Late-Stage Cancer and Metastatic Disease

Where You Live Shapes When Cancer Is Found

Late-stage cancers have spread beyond the site of origin. These cancers have a worse prognosis, as they are more aggressive and harder to treat.

Late-stage diagnosis rates vary more than threefold across Cook County zip codes.

The highest rates are found on the west and south sides of Chicago and in south suburban Cook County.

Heat map of Cook County showing late-stage cancer diagnosis rates vary widely by zip code, with the highest rates concentrated on the west and south sides of Chicago and in south suburban areas. — Late-stage cancer rates are highest on the west and south sides of Chicago and in south suburban communities, aligning with areas where the Cancer Center is focused on improving early detection and outcomes.

Breast Cancer Brain Metastasis

Headshots of Kaori Yamada, Tohru Yamada, Zongmin Zhao, Ekrem Emrah Er and VK Gadi — Cancer Center scientists focus on research about breast cancer brain metastasis.

Multi-disciplinary scientists from across the Cancer Center are focused on the spread of breast cancer to the brain, called metastasis. Cancer Center scientists in the Cancer Biology and Translational Oncology Research Programs were awarded a five-year, $2.5 million National Cancer Institute grant (Grant #: R01CA289701) to support their work, and Cancer Center Tumor Microenvironment Working Group members are racing to identify cell-engineering methods to target breast cancer brain metastasis (Grant #: R21CA291723). A $30,000 gift from Aalap and Pinki Mahadevia supports work in the lab of Cancer Center Deputy Director VK Gadi, MD, PhD, as they investigate the mechanisms by which brain metastasis sometimes occurs in triple-negative breast cancer patients to help pinpoint the early changes to reveal new therapeutic targets.

Stopping Rare Eye Cancer

Research by Cancer Center members examined how the spread of ocular melanoma (a rare cancer of the eye) happens and tested a therapy that could stop it. (Signal Transduction and Targeted Therapy, February 2025)

Screenshot of the published research article — Published research on ocular melanoma explores how this rare eye cancer spreads and how it may be stopped.

Treatment Opportunities

Photo of Zongmin Zhao, PhD, and Cancer Center trainee Chih-Jia (Bess) Chao — Zongmin Zhao, PhD, and trainee Chih-Jia (Bess) Chao, PhD candidate, are working to expand treatment options for hard-to-treat cancers.

Cancer Center members and trainees are striving to improve immunotherapy because some tumor sites are hostile to the immune system, and the technology they are working on could open up opportunities for treating tumors that are unresponsive to therapy. (Nature Communications, May 2025)

Pancreatic Cancer Treatment

Cancer Center scientists are part of a team at UIC working on a new pancreatic cancer treatment, which separates cancer cells from the bloodstream using a small chip device.

Cancer Center Translational Oncology Research Program members Effrossyni Votta-Velis, MD, and Ian Papautsky, PhD — Effrossyni Votta-Velis, MD, and Ian Papautsky, PhD, are part of a team developing a new pancreatic cancer treatment approach.

Impact Report 2026