Scientists discover how cancer spreads - newspaper 12/8/05


Scientists have found how cancer spreads from a primary site to other
places, a discovery that could lead to new ways of treating and
preventing advanced disease.

Instead of a cell just breaking off from a tumor and traveling
through the bloodstream to another organ where it forms a secondary
tumor, or metastasis, researchers in the U.S. have shown that the
cancer sends out envoys to prepare the new site.

Intercepting those envoys, or blocking their action with drugs, might
help to prevent the spread of cancer or to treat it when it has
occurred.

"We are opening the door to all these things that occur before the
tumor cell implants itself," said professor David Lyden, of Cornell
University in New York.