Cancer Research specialists hope to tackle moving cancer cells

Cancer Research experts are hoping to tackle the issue of moving cancer cells.

The ability to move is one of the most deadly properties of cancer cells, as it causes the disease to spread and colonise other parts of the body, which can lead to a greater number of deaths.

Scientists at the Cancer Research UK London Research Institute are looking at different types of cancer cell movement in a bid to help develop drugs to prevent the disease from spreading.

These experts are being led by Erik Sahai and Paul Bates, and a computer model has been developed based on skin cancer cells. These predict how a cell may move under different conditions.

Dr Melda TozluoÄŸlu, the lead author of the study, said: “For cancer to spread, cancer cells actually need to move inside the body, from one point to another, stop, and start a new tumour. Our work focuses on understanding how the cancer cells move in the body, so that we can hamstring them – lock them into place so that other treatments can destroy them.

“We also know that cancer cells have the ability to use all different methods of movement, so stopping just one route will not stop them spreading through the body. In other words, if we take their hiking boots away, they will switch to running shoes and, although they may not be as fast, they will keep moving.”

Dr TozluoÄŸlu went on to say that drugs are needed to target the many types of movement that cancer cells can take advantage of.

The team looked at a number of types of cell movement such as “crawling” or “squeezing”, with these actions being examined in different environments including flat surfaces, enclosed areas or meshwork.

Dr Julie Sharp, senior science information manager at Cancer Research UK, said: “Stopping cancers from spreading to new parts of the body is an important aim of our researchers and it’s essential for making treatments more effective.”

Posted by Fiona Griffiths