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NEWS |
Researchers Tackle Metastasis, Cancer's Last Frontier
| The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below. |
New research, including a phase II clinical trial in advanced melanoma, is adding to growing evidence that slowing metastasis may be more important than the traditional goal of reducing tumor volume.
"Looking at tumor volume to extend life is looking in the wrong direction," said David Cheresh, Ph.D., professor of pathology and cancer biology at the University of California in San Diego and inventor of the drug etaracizumab (Abegrin), which extended the life of stage IV melanoma patients. "Instead, we need to attack the metastatic cascade."
Metastasis has long been known as cancer's true killer, but it hasn't been well understood. Now that researchers are teasing apart the steps in the metastatic cascade, they are trying to arrest the process by taking a range of new vascular biology approaches, including targeting a tumor's blood vessels, its communications system, and its lymph system. Other research is looking at the tumor's microenvironment,
Targeting Tumor Vessels
Lymph System Delivery
The Signaling System
Other Approaches To Tackling Metastases