Nine times out of ten, metastasis is the cause of cancer deaths. This is the point when the primary tumour has sent out cells, like seeds, and invaded other organs of the body. Despite significant advancements in the treatment of primary tumours , medicine remains mainly powerless against metastases.
As of right now, there are no drugs that stop this process. Researchers from the Department of Biosystems Science and Engineering at ETH Zurich in Basel, under the direction of Andreas Moor, have now published findings in the journal Nature that demonstrate how colorectal cancer cells colonise the liver. Their research will aid in the creation of therapies that might impede the spread of disease.
Cancer is said to metastasise when cells from the primary tumour break off and travel via the circulatory system to other parts of the body. "Colorectal cancer metastasises to the liver because of how our blood flows," Moor says. Blood is first enriched with nutrients in the intestines before it goes to the liver, which metabolises the nutrients .
For colorectal cancer cells, the liver is the last stop. "They get caught in the liver's capillary network," Moor says. Costanza Borrelli, a doctoral student, and other members of Moor's team have now shown that the liver cells also play a large role in whether or not the cancer cells lodged there can colonise their new location.
Science has known for over a century that, much like plant seeds in soil, cancer cells are dependent on their enviro.