Cancer Gateway

Cancer cells rapidly replicate allowing them to spread throughout the human body. Recent research suggests, however, that healthy cells nearby need to send them ‘messages’ to facilitate their invasion. Scientists are trying to find ways to ‘edit’ these messages to prevent tumour spread. Retinoblastoma (Rb) protein is well known to protect against cancer: low Rb is a hallmark of tumorous tissue. Recently scientists decided to explore its role in the healthy tissue surrounding a tumour (cancerous areas here marked by dotted lines). The team – working specifically on cervical and throat cancer – found inactivated Rb (stained green) more frequently in healthy tissue around tumours (left) than in disease-free samples. They believe this provides a ‘gateway’ for cancer to spread. Therapeutic strategies tend to focus on the cancer itself, but this research suggests that therapy might also target healthy cells to stop cancer spreading.

Written by Brona McVittie

Brona McVittie

Writer/Consultant

Independent science blogger and musician. Got the whole BPoD show on the road while heading up the public engagement team at the MRC CSC. Loves gardening, cooking and diving. Makes corkbots too.

• Dennis J McCance
• Centre for Cancer Research and Cell Biology, Queen’s University Belfast, UK
• Reprinted by permission from Macmillan Publishers Ltd: The EMBO Journal Copyright 2012
• Published in The EMBO Journal, 31, 3092-3103