The movement of tumor cells makes them deadly, new study suggests

Ryan Petrie, PhD, an assistant professor in Drexel's College of Arts and Sciences, has led a study related to the spread of cancer. According to him, cancer is fatal because of the ability of cancer cells to move to unaffected organs. Therefore, prevention of their movement along with other therapies would help the patient survive the disease. Petrie’s team found that the fibrosarcoma tumor cells, unlike normal connective tissue cells, are incapable of movement if they have to move through constricted, three-dimensional environments. Therefore, fibrosarcoma tumor cells “chew their way through” environments rather than readjusting their shape without affecting the structure like normal cells. Such movement of the cancerous cells helps them in infecting new organs and environments. Understanding these movements can help in stopping the spread of cancer in the patient. The team now wants to study the intracellular signaling that induces cancerous and non-cancerous cells to behave differently.

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