Metastasis

Cancer becomes far more dangerous when it spreads through the body, known as metastasis. A newly identified protein stops cells getting into the bloodstream – and tumor cells can ignore it, which may reveal a new drug target for cancer treatment.

Leveraging a newfound ability to identify the "fittest" metastatic cancer cells, scientists at the UK's University of Salford have discovered that an already approved drug can be deployed to cut off their fuel supply, while leaving normal healthy cells unharmed.

Oncolytic viruses selectively kill cancer cells, but this can be ineffective if it alerts the immune system. Now scientists have tweaked these viruses to avoid detection by the immune system, allowing them to track down cancer even after it’s spread.

Cancer spreads easily, and a common location for secondary tumors to appear is the lungs. Now, scientists at Harvard’s Wyss Institute have developed a way to treat metastatic tumors in the lungs, by attaching immune-baiting drugs to red blood cells.

Part of what makes cancer so deadly is its ability to rapidly spread to other parts of the body. Now, researchers at Tulane University have identified a pair of genes that helps triple negative breast cancer spread – and found how to switch them off.

Researchers are reporting the development of a new imaging method to detect metastatic cancer in the liver. The MRI method could be applied to a number of other cancers, offering an entirely novel way to detect metastatic disease at its early stages.

Fighting cancer can sometimes feel like a game of Whack-A-Mole – even after a primary tumor is removed the disease can crop up again in other organs. Now, researchers have developed a drug that can prevent cancer from spreading.

Researchers from the University of Michigan have developed cancer traps that can be implanted just below the skin. In mouse tests, these traps caught biomarkers that can tell doctors if cancer is present, if it’s spreading or if it’s preparing to.

A study suggests the drugs used to initially treat breast cancer may be triggering some cancer cells to enter a dormant state.

One of the main reasons cancer is hard to beat is because it spreads through the body. But now researchers from Vanderbilt University have developed a new technique that uses nanoparticles to enhance immune cells, helping them hunt down cancer cells migrating through the bloodstream.

A team of scientists from Israel report compelling new insights into how the metastatic spread of melanoma is assisted by nearby fat cells. The research does not suggest obesity enhances the metastatic potential of skin cancers but it does point to new drugs that can stop the spread of melanoma.

New research from the University of Virginia suggests an unhealthy gut microbiome can actively promote the spread of breast cancer. Through a series of animal experiments the new study demonstrated how disruptions to gut bacterial populations can drive metastatic spread of tumor cells.