tumor metastasis

(American Friends of Tel Aviv University) Prof. Shamgar Ben-Eliyahu of Tel Aviv University is combining two medications originally used to treat excessive stress and inflammatory responses, the culmination of 15 years of research on the connection between the body's stress responses, immune functions, and tumor metastasis.

If these trials are as successful as those recently concluded on animal models, long-term post-operative survival rates for cancer patients may increase by up to 300 percent.

(University of California - San Diego) In the early stages of human embryogenesis, a transcription factor called Twist1 plays a key regulatory role in how the embryo assumes form and function.

Much later in life, however, researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, say Twist1 can re-emerge, taking a darker and more deadly turn.

(American Journal of Pathology) Current research suggests that tumor-secreted exosomes inhibit the immune response, enhancing tumor metastasis.

The related report by Liu et al, "Contribution of MyD88 to the tumor exosome-mediated induction of myeloid derived suppressor cells," appears in the May 2010 issue of the American Journal of Pathology.

(Burnham Institute) Researchers at the Burnham Institute for Medical Research have discovered that reactive oxygen species, such as superoxide and hydrogen peroxide, play a key role in forming invadopodia, cellular protrusions implicated in cancer cell migration and tumor metastasis.