Metastasis News and Research

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Metastasis is the spread of cancer from one part of the body to another. A tumor formed by cells that have spread is called a “metastatic tumor” or a “metastasis.” The metastatic tumor contains cells that are like those in the original (primary) tumor. The plural form of metastasis is metastases

Study identifies mechanism that explains how cancer cells spread to the lymph nodes

Metastasis is responsible for 90% of deaths in patients with cancer. Understanding the mechanisms responsible for this process is one of the top goals of cancer research. The metastatic process involves a series of steps chained where the primary tumour invades surrounding tissues and ends spreading throughout the body. Ones of the first tissues undergoing metastasis are the lymph nodes surrounding the tumour.

7 Mar 2012

Scripps scientists to develop new generation of broad spectrum anti-cancer therapeutics

A pair of Scripps Research Institute scientists, one a cancer biologist and the other a chemist, has been awarded $3.85 million from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to develop a new generation of broad spectrum anti-cancer therapeutics, including breast cancer and lymphoma.

6 Mar 2012

Blocking Plexin B1 protein can prevent formation of breast cancer metastases

In particularly aggressive forms of breast cancer, cancer cells can settle in other organs and form metastases there. Once such metastases form, complete recovery is rare. Consequently, it is enormously important to prevent the metastasisation of the breast cancer cells. The success, however, achieved by using existing forms of therapy is limited.

6 Mar 2012

Exelixis initiates cabozantinib and abiraterone phase 1 combination trial in CRPC

Exelixis Inc. today announced the initiation of a phase 1 dose-finding trial of cabozantinib in combination with abiraterone in men with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) who have disease progression following treatment with up to two prior chemotherapy regimens.

5 Mar 2012

Combination of implanted DCs and EBRT effective in creating sarcoma tumor immune response

A team of 18 researchers at Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, Fla., have found that treating high-risk, soft tissue sarcoma patients with a combination of implanted dendritic cells (immune system cells) and fractionated external beam radiation (EBRT) provided more than 50 percent of their trial patients with tumor-specific immune responses lasting from 11 to 42 weeks.

2 Mar 2012

New HS44 molecule inhibits lung metastasis

One type of white blood cell, the Natural Killer T Cells, fights against infections and tumours by freeing cytokine proteins which activate the body's immune response and destroy infected or malignant cells. To do so they must receive an activation signal. Specific receptors located on their surface act as switches: they activate the lymphocyte in presence of an antigen, a molecule which triggers alarm signals.

2 Mar 2012

Two-target approach may effectively stop pancreatic cancer metastasis

Simultaneous targeting of two different molecules in cancer is an effective way to shrink tumors, block invasion, and stop metastasis, scientists at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) have found—work that may improve the effectiveness of combination treatments that include drugs like Avastin.

27 Feb 2012

Cabozantinib blocks c-MET and VEGF signaling in mouse model of pancreatic cancer

Dual inhibition of vascular endothelial growth factor and c-MET signaling inhibited tumor invasion and metastasis in a laboratory model of pancreatic neuroendocrine cancer, according to a paper published in Cancer Discovery, the newest journal of the American Association for Cancer Research.

27 Feb 2012

Exelixis announces cabozantinib preclinical data on pancreatic cancer

Exelixis, Inc. today announced the company's lead compound, cabozantinib, is highlighted in a new peer-reviewed publication demonstrating that simultaneous inhibition of MET and VEGF signaling reduces tumor invasiveness and metastasis in preclinical models of pancreatic cancer.

26 Feb 2012

UCSF: 1-2 punch blocks tumor growth, invasion and metastasis

Simultaneous targeting of two different molecules in cancer is an effective way to shrink tumors, block invasion, and stop metastasis, scientists at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) have found-work that may improve the effectiveness of combination treatments that include drugs like Avastin.

24 Feb 2012

Scientists identify specific pathways behind breast cell's transformation into cancer

Although it's widely accepted that inflammation is a critical underlying factor in a range of diseases, including the progression of cancer, little is known about its role when normal cells become tumor cells. Now, scientists from the Florida campus of The Scripps Research Institute have shed new light on exactly how the activation of a pair of inflammatory signaling pathways leads to the transformation of normal breast cells to cancer cells.

24 Feb 2012

Researchers discover how mTOR protein leads to cancer metastasis

Uncovering the network of genes regulated by a crucial molecule involved in cancer called mTOR, which controls protein production inside cells, researchers at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) have discovered how a protein "master regulator" goes awry, leading to metastasis, the fatal step of cancer.

23 Feb 2012

Targeting versican protein may help stop breast cancer metastasis

Oncologists have known that in order for cancer cells to spread, they must transform themselves so they can detach from a tumor and spread to a distant organ. Now, scientists at Weill Cornell Medical College have revealed critical steps in what happens next -- how these cells reverse the process, morphing back into classical cancer that can now grow into a new tumor.

23 Feb 2012

Genomic instability allows malignant cells to acquire more deadly characteristics

Genomic instability caused by an erosion of the protective caps on chromosomes, followed by activation of an enzyme that reinforces those aps, allows malignant cells to evade destruction and acquire more deadly characteristics, researchers report in an Online Now article at the journal Cell.

21 Feb 2012

Targeting patient's own dendritic cells may help restore the immune system

Aggressive ovarian tumors begin as malignant cells kept in check by the immune system until, suddenly and unpredictably, they explode into metastatic cancer. New findings from scientists at The Wistar Institute demonstrate that ovarian tumors don't necessarily break "free" of the immune system, rather dendritic cells of the immune system seem to actively support the tumor's escape.

20 Feb 2012

Four new drugs can extend survival and prognosis of prostate cancer

After a decade and a half of near stagnation, four new drugs could help make advanced prostate cancer a chronic illness instead of a terminal disease, a leading Colorado prostate cancer expert says.

17 Feb 2012

TFF3 protein plays a more sinister role in breast cancer metastasis

The trefoil factor 3 (TFF3) protein protects and maintains the integrity of the epithelial surface in the normal breast. New research has found that while TFF3 protein expression is higher in well-differentiated low grade tumors and therefore associated with features of a good prognosis, it has a more sinister role in breast cancer invasion and metastasis.

16 Feb 2012

Diffusion-weighted MRI may effectively indicate response to ovarian cancer treatment

Cancer Research UK-funded scientists have determined that a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technique, which measures the movement of water molecules within the tumour, may be the best way to monitor how women with late-stage ovarian cancer are responding to treatment. The study is published in the journal Radiology today.

14 Feb 2012

Injecting MWCNTs can kill tumor initiating breast cancer stem cells

Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center researchers have again proven that injecting multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) into tumors and heating them with a quick, 30-second laser treatment can kill them.

10 Feb 2012

Scientists study a botanical formula that kills aggressive prostate cancer tumors

Scientists at Indiana University, Methodist Research Institute study a botanical formula that kills aggressive prostate cancer tumors. Their findings, based on experiments in mice using a human prostate cancer tumor model, appear online in The International Journal of Oncology.

9 Feb 2012