Long-sought mechanism of metastasis is discovered in pancreatic cancer

(Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) An important discovery at CSHL establishes a cause of metastasis in pancreatic cancer. Using organoids grown from patient tissues and transplanted in mouse models of the illness, the team pinpoints an epigenetic re-programming of gene enhancers that returns cancerous cells to a more primitive developmental state, dating back to the formation of the pancreas, in which cells multiply rapidly and are not yet anchored in tissue.
Source: EurekAlert! - Cancer - Category: Cancer & Oncology Source Type: news