Patricia Steeg

Patricia Steeg discovered NM23 as the first metastasis suppressor gene and has spent decades elucidating the molecular mechanisms that suppress metastatic outgrowth and maintain tumor dormancy, particularly in the context of brain metastases from breast cancer. Her laboratory at the National Cancer Institute has identified therapeutic strategies to maintain cancer cell dormancy and prevent reactivation, including targeting the dormancy-to-proliferation switch in brain metastatic niches. Her work has been instrumental in establishing metastasis suppression as a legitimate therapeutic strategy distinct from tumor growth inhibition.