Cancer

A multi-institutional team of Boston-area researchers has discovered a chemical that works in mice to kill the rare but aggressive cells within breast cancers that have the ability to seed new tumors.

Low levels of a tiny RNA fragment in cells are associated with metastatic breast cancer in humans and increases the aggressive spread of breast cancer in mice, according to researchers at Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research.

Blocking a specific protein complex (mTORC2) prevents prostate tumor formation in mice with a deleted PTEN gene. Inhibition of this complex in normal prostate cells, however, appears to have no effect, suggesting that the protein complex may be a future target for drug development.

Understanding the role of EMT in adult stem cell creation may lead toward the development of healthy stem cells for regenerative medicine and provide drug targets for cancer.

The conscripts secrete a protein that fosters cell movement and invasion.

After being injected with just 100 cells, mice develop tumors that metastasize.

Scientists find crucial component of brain and prostate cancer.