Recent Metastasis Research

Most cancers kill through metastasis. It isn't the initial malignant tumor but rather the spread of its cells throughout the body to seed more growths that outpaces today's medical toolkit. Absent metastasis, most cancers would be far more controllable and far less deadly, and even last generation treatments like chemotherapy could be made more localized and less taxing on the patient. Thus while a way to block metastasis in a majority of cancers is not a cure, it is a worthwhile stepping stone to aim for. Many of the same considerations come into play as for research aimed at destroying cancer cells: are there common mechanisms involved in the dispersal of malignant cancer cells into the blood system; do these migrating cells have any common surface molecules or other distinguishing traits; how plausible is it to interfere in their activities without impacting normal tissues; and so forth. Cancer research is well funded in comparison to other fields of medical science. While there is a lot of dead wood and waste, as is always the case given the large amounts of public funding, the field as a whole is heading in the right direction towards a robust suite of next generation treatments. For those of us not expecting a high chance of dealing with cancer for another couple of decades at least, the odds are good that we will have a comparatively smooth ride of it. It will be expensive and unpleasant in comparison to, say, avoiding cancer entirely, but targeted immunotherapies wit...
Source: Fight Aging! - Category: Research Authors: Tags: Medicine, Biotech, Research Source Type: blogs