Cancer cells are sticky
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Scientists have successfully blocked the spread of human breast cancer implanted into mice.
If breast cancer - and other forms of the disease - can be stopped from spreading around the body, then many lives could be saved.
A team from the San Francisco VA Medical Center were able to stop the cancer in its tracks by using a modified version of a naturally occurring human protein.
The treatment appeared to be side effect free.
What we're trying to do is make cancer a disease that one can live with
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It works by reducing the "stickiness" of cancer cells. It is the ability to adhere to other cells that allows a cancer cell that breaks away from a primary tumour to lodge in other parts of the body, and trigger the growth of new malignancies.
Researcher Dr Constance John said: "We're not trying to develop a cure for cancer.
"What we're trying to do is make cancer a disease that one can live with."
Modification
The new technique involves the modification of a human protein called galectin-3, which plays a crucial role in making cancer cell sticky.
The researchers effectively robbed the protein of this ability by changing its structure.
They then implanted portions of human-derived breast cancer tumours into mice with weakened immune systems.
Once the tumours were established, some mice were injected with the modified protein, and others were given a dummy treatment.
By the end of the experiment, cancer had spread to lymph nodes or other organs in 11 of the 20 mice given the dummy injection - but only four of the 20 who received the modified protein.
In addition, the original implanted cancer fragments had grown significantly less in the "treated" mice.
The researchers hope that a drug therapy based on their findings may one day be used in combination with currently available cancer medications.
Lead researcher Dr Gary Jarvis said: "If we can stop metastasis (spread) in humans, we will have gone a long way towards successfully treating cancer."
Martin Ledwick, senior cancer information nurse for the charity CancerBACUP, said: "These experiments are interesting, but people should not get over-excited.
"It will be a long time before we know whether this study is at all relevant for the treatment of cancer in humans."
Anna Wood, a policy analyst for the charity Breast Cancer Care, echoed this opinion.
She said: "This treatment has only been tested on mice and we would advice caution when interpreting the results."
The research is published in the journal Clinical Cancer Research.