Microenvironment provides growth factor for metastasis

(Children's Hospital Los Angeles) When a person has cancer that spreads to the bone and bone marrow, the tissue becomes increasingly fragile, often leading to increased bone resorption. In a surprising discovery, investigators at Children's Hospital Los Angeles found that when neuroblastoma cells metastasize to the bone, there initially occurs an increase in bone deposition, not resorption. They also determined that this process is driven by a chemical messenger called VEGFA.
Source: EurekAlert! - Medicine and Health - Category: Global & Universal Source Type: news