New research from Memorial Sloan Kettering provides fresh insight into the biologic mechanisms that individual cancer cells use to metastasize to the brain.
Yet most tumor cells die before they can take root in the brain, which is better protected than most organs against colonization by circulating tumor cells.
To seed in the brain, a cancer cell must dislodge from its tumor of origin, enter the bloodstream, and cross densely packed blood vessels called the blood-brain barrier.
"We didn't know why so many of these cells die," says Joan Massagué, PhD, Director of the Sloan Kettering Institute and senior author of the study.
What keeps these rare cells alive and where do they hide?"
http://medx.cc/312730940
Yet most tumor cells die before they can take root in the brain, which is better protected than most organs against colonization by circulating tumor cells.
To seed in the brain, a cancer cell must dislodge from its tumor of origin, enter the bloodstream, and cross densely packed blood vessels called the blood-brain barrier.
"We didn't know why so many of these cells die," says Joan Massagué, PhD, Director of the Sloan Kettering Institute and senior author of the study.
What keeps these rare cells alive and where do they hide?"
http://medx.cc/312730940
