Most cancer deaths are caused by metastasis, but how cancer cells and tumors modify themselves and spread from their origins to other parts of the body remains largely a mystery — and fundamentally challenging.
In a new paper published December 6, 2024 in Science Advances, study co-author Sanju Sinha, PhD, assistant professor in the Cancer Molecular Therapeutics Program at Sanford Burnham Prebys, and colleagues, investigate whether primary and metastatic tumors more closely resemble the tissues of origin or target tissues in terms of gene expression.
Their findings suggest movement and evolution, providing a comprehensive transcriptome-wide view of the processes through which cancer tumors adapt to their metastatic environments before and after metastasis.