A landmark study into the process of metastasis brings welcome news to the fight against cancer. The method and analysis involved in the study facilitates the better study of metastasis, the way in which cancer cells spread from primary tumours to other areas of the body. Knowledge of metastasis is the ‘holy grail’ of cancer research as it would provide the means to work against the biggest cause of cancer-related mortality.
Daniel Haber and Shyamala Maheswaran, of the Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center formed an analysis of breast cancer cells that had escaped from main tumours and entered the bloodstream. The technique they used in the process is being hailed as a significant improvement on pre-existing methods of extracting tumour cells from the blood. The research team deployed a new method of isolating and marking tumour cells as they circulated in the blood. They were then able to track the progress of the cells in eleven test subjects concurrently receiving chemotherapy treatment. The method is notable because the previous method of analysis picked up the presence of epithelial cells and missed mesenchymal tumour cells completely.
Mesenchymal cells had previously been thought to be the element at work in allowing metastasising tumour cells to activate pathways usually limited to the growth-initiating mesenchymal cells. A hypothesis based on the idea that epithelial cells transmit cancer to mesenchymal cells (EMT) has previously been the explanation favoured by scientists for metastasis, but lacked laboratory proof. Thanks to the new study’s innovative method, there is now significant evidence to confirm this theory.
The study in question was published in Science magazine, and has been welcomed on both sides of the Atlantic as hopeful news for patient wellbeing. Caroline Dive of Cancer Research UK greeted the news with enthusiasm and said it was fair to expect a resulting ‘explosion’ of studies into the subject. Both method and findings indicate a new tool and direction for the future of this vital research, and this could mean a revolution in the wellness of millions of cancer patients.
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