Basic research: Support vital work to understand how cancer spreads
Why this research is needed
One of the reasons that cancer can be so difficult to treat is its ability to spread around the body forming new tumours. Cancer spread is responsible for 90% of all the lives lost to the disease.
Research into understanding and preventing cancer spread could help save millions of lives in the UK and worldwide every year.
The impact of our research
Our scientists have played a key role in many of the most important discoveries in basic cancer biology, including how cancer cells move and spread.
Knowing how cancer spreads will open the door to finding cures for different types of cancer and will help to save more lives every year.
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The science behind this project
Find out how cancer spreads and why understanding how cancer spreads is essential to developing new treatments to stop cancer in its tracks.
How does cancer spread?
In order to spread, cancer cells need to break away from the original (or primary) tumour. They can then enter the bloodstream or lymphatic system and travel around the body until they get somewhere.
They can then invade the surrounding tissues and begin multiplying to form 'secondary' tumours.
Why is cancer spread an essential target?
When a tumour is confined to a single part of the body it is easier to treat, because doctors can use effective treatments like radiotherapy and surgery, as well as drug treatments. But when cancer spreads to other organs, these treatments may not manage to control the cancer and sadly, it then cannot be cured.
Because all cancers can spread, being able to stop this process could change future cancer treatment.
Unlocking the secret
Understanding the intricacies of how cancer cells spread will unlock cancer's best kept secret. With this knowledge, scientists will be able to develop groundbreaking treatments to prevent cancer spread, helping to bring forward the day when all cancers will be cured.
Dr Erik Sahai and his group at the Cancer Research UK London Research Institute are looking at how cancer cells break free, travel across the body, invade other tissues and grow in a different location.
Using cutting-edge techniques that allow them to watch individual cells move and invade, they can study their behaviour and control these processes.
One area they are focusing on is explaining the role played by normal healthy cells, called fibroblasts, which are hijacked by the cancer to help it spread.
The team have already made remarkable discoveries, showing that these fibroblasts act like a snowplough, clearing the way for cancer cells to move and invade through tissues.
Image above right: Cancer cells (in fluorescent green) surrounded by fibroblasts (in fluorescent red) and nuclei (in fluorescent cyan) spreading through tissue; image courtesy of Dr Erik Sahai.