Metas*tasis. The very word evokes fear. Defined as the spread of cancer cells from one part of the body to another, metastasis is the cause of approximately 90 percent of deaths among cancer patients. How does metastasis come about? And can we stop it?
New research from a team led by Northeastern's Anand Asthagiri, associate professor of bioengineering and chemical engineering, helps to answer those questions. It provides an astonishing look at the biophysical properties that permit breast cancer cells to "slide" by obsta*les and travel out of their primary tumor toward a blood vessel that will carry them to a new site.
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