Researchers at Rockefeller University have uncovered a crucial link between sensory neurons and the metastasis of breast cancer. Published in Nature, their work reveals that sensory nerves within breast tumors secrete a neuropeptide that significantly promotes cancer growth and spread. This discovery suggests that targeting this neuro-cancer crosstalk may help…

Researchers at Stanford University have identified a protein, known as ENPP1 that can act as an on/off switch controlling breast cancer cell’s ability to metastasize and resist immunotherapy. Despite the strides made in cancer immunotherapies, a significant hurdle remains: more than 80 percent of advanced breast cancers resist these promising…

Researchers observed that cells that are present in cancerous brain cells but not in normal brain tissue—known as cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs)—secrete a protein that stimulates breast cancer cells in the brain to migrate and invade more widely. The excreted protein, fucosylated poliovirus receptor (PVF), was shown in mouse models to…

A new renal cell carcinoma (RCC) model developed by researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center has uncovered a cluster of interferon receptor (INFR) genes that trigger chromosomal instability and drive metastasis. The findings, published today in Nature Cancer may be a new tool for clinicians to…

A new type of checkpoint inhibitor targeting bone metastases is being investigated at Rice University and Baylor College of Medicine, thanks to a $2.3M award from the Department of Defense’s Breast Cancer Research Program. Bone metastases are common among patients with solid tumors, such as those of the breast, colon,…

Combining radiation with a novel immunotherapy drug was shown to stop metastasis in animal models of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC), which accounts for 90% of pancreatic cancers. According to a new study by researchers at the University of Colorado Cancer Center published in Cancer Cell, the therapy resulted in significantly…

Researchers at Tel Aviv University have identified a mechanism generating a cancer-promoting inflammatory environment in response to chemotherapy and an anti-inflammatory treatment combination reducing the incidence of lung metastasis by nearly 50 percent. Chemotherapy efficacy rates vary by cancer type and stage, ranging from recurrence rates of 30 percent in…

Researchers from the Garvan Institute of Medical Research have released research findings detailing how collagen type XII plays a role the regulation and organization of the cancer tumor matrix and also triggers breast cancer cells from the tumor to spread around the body. A potential application of this new finding,…

In metastasis, cancer cells break away from the original tumor, travel through the blood or lymph system, and form a new tumor in other organs or tissues of the body. Now, researchers at the University of Basel report that the cell transformation known as epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) allows cancer cells…

Results from a mouse study led by the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB) Barcelona suggest that palmitic acid, a dietary fatty acid found in palm oil, plays a role in promoting cancer metastasis. In a mouse model of human mouth and skin cancer, the team found that consumption of…

The success of a tumor cell circulating in the bloodstream to grow into a metastasis is highly dependent on the characteristics of the environment. Now, a new mouse study by scientists from the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) and the Medical Faculty Mannheim, Heidelberg University, reveals a new growth factor…

New findings by researchers at Duke University School of Medicine indicate that chronically high levels of cholesterol are associated with increased risk of breast cancer, and with worse outcomes in most cancers. To date, the link between high cholesterol and cancer hasn’t been fully understood, but the mouse studies by…

Chronically high cholesterol levels are associated with increased risk of breast cancer, and with worse outcomes in most cancers, but the link hasn’t been fully understood. Studies in cancer cells and in mice by a Duke Cancer Institute-led team have now identified a mechanism that underpins how breast cancer cells…

Medulloblastoma uses cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) to spread to the lining of the brain or spinal cord. This metastasis is responsible for virtually all deaths from the disease. Now, new research published in Cell Reports led by the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California (USC) demonstrates how…

A new mouse study reveals that low doses of a four-drug combination help prevent the spread of cancer without triggering drug resistance or recurrence by simultaneously targeting multiple pathways within a metastasis-promoting network. The findings are published in the journal eLife in a paper titled, “Limited inhibition of multiple nodes in a…