Metastases are formed by cancer cells that break away from the primary tumor. A research group at the University of Basel has now identified lack of oxygen as the trigger for this process. The results reveal an important relationship between the oxygen supply to tumors and the formation of metastases.
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Professor Nicola Aceto of the University of Basel is awarded the prestigious Friedrich Miescher Award 2020 for his research on circulating tumor cell clusters. He shares the award with Professor Greta Guarda, a group leader at the Institute for Research in Biomedicine in Bellinzona.
Tumor cells use a certain type of immune cells, the so-called neutrophils, to enhance their ability to form metastases. Scientists have deciphered the mechanisms of this collaboration and found strategies for blocking them. This is reported by researchers from the University of Basel and the University Hospital of Basel in the scientific journal “Nature”.
The most deadly aspect of breast cancer is metastasis. It spreads cancer cells throughout the body. Researchers at the University of Basel and the University Hospital of Basel have now discovered a substance that suppresses the formation of metastases. In the journal Cell, the team of molecular biologists, computational biologists, and clinicians reports on their interdisciplinary approach.
