A key molecule that helps breast cancer spread beyond the primary tumour has been identified by researchers at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University.
The molecule works by stimulating metastasis (the breaking away of cells from the primary tumour). Once separated, cancerous cells are carried through the blood stream to a new site in the body where they grow into new tumours.
Most cancer deaths occur, not from the original tumour, but because the cancer spreads to other parts of the body.
“This raises the possibility that metastasis could be kept from progressing – or even prevented – if the stimulating molecule could be blocked.” according to researcher Dr Pollard.
Read more at Yeshiva University