3-D model reveals secrets of metastasis
A cancer cell breaks away from a primary tumor and settles in a new location, where it once again divides. Pharmaceutical companies typically use simplistic two-dimensional assays for this process, which is known as metastasis, to evaluate anti-cancer therapeutics. In these assays, cells crawl across the surface of a matrix, traveling in a single plane. But a new study indicates that this approac...Two-faced protein can stop metastasis or promote it, researchers say
A protein known to be a key component of the glue that holds cells together also is involved in breaking them apart and promoting their movement when tumors begin to spread to other parts of the body, researchers at Mayo Clinic have found. The study, published in the Sept. 18 online issue of the Journal of Cell Biology, helps illuminate the very first steps involved in metastasis, the spre...Newly discovered behavior in cancer cells signals dangerous metastasis
The most aggressively malignant cancer cells have a "toggle switch" that enables them to morph into highly mobile cells that invade other tissues and then nest comfortably in their new surroundings, a new study in rats suggests. This picture of how cancer cells shift between two alternating states -- travelers and nesters -- represents a new understanding of how cancer metastasizes, or spr...'Trojan Horse' agent halts bone metastasis in mice
A novel vascular targeting agent completely prevented the development of bone tumors in 50 percent of the mice tested in a preclinical study, providing early evidence that it could treat, or thwart, growth of tumors in bone, a common destination for a number of cancers when they start to spread. Researchers at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center reported in the journal Can...Inflammation may play role in metastasis of prostate cancer
Many would assume that "mounting an immune response" or "having your body fight the cancer" is a good thing. Now, research at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) School of Medicine strongly suggests that inflammation associated with the progression of tumors actually plays a key role in the metastasis of prostate cancer. The research, appearing online March 19 in advance of pub...Metastasis of Neuroblastoma linked to Loss Of Caspase-8 gene
The caspase-8 gene prevents the metastasis of the neuroblastoma. This research was conducted at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital and the University of California// at San Diego (UCSD). Cancer cells that have broken itself from the main primary tumor have lost the function of this gene. Hence it is clear that caspase-8 gene is responsible for inhibiting metastasis. Neurobl...Understanding Lung Cancer Metastasis
Around 165,000 cases of lung cancer are diagnosed in the United States annually, and of these, 20 percent to 25 percent are classified // as small cell lung carcinoma (SCLC). Prognosis for these patients is poor, and the disease frequently travels to the brain and central nervous system. The probability of developing brain cancer, for example, ranges up to 80 percent. Whether or not thes...Preventing Bone Metastasis In Patients With Breast Cancer
Based on findings of a recent study researchers say the drug clodronate is an effective treatment for patients with breast cancer that has spread to their bones. Researchers studied more than 1,000 patients // with breast cancer. Patients received standard therapy plus 1,600 milligrams of oral clodronate a day or a placebo for five years. Results showed 124 patients in the study had thei...Researchers Identify Sipa 1 Gene, Responsible For Cancer Metastasis
Hunter and colleagues have identified a candidate gene, Sipa1, with an amino acid polymorphism that influences metastasis in cancer. Cancer mortality is most often the result of metastasis rather than the primary tumor.//Previous studies from Kent Hunter’s group demonstrated that the genetic background of the host can influence metastatic efficiency. They expressed the polyoma middle-T transgene...