Metastasis: The Killing Fields

October 29, 2020

By Anita Slomski , Massachusetts General Hospital

For cancer cells, it’s a make-or-break journey. To do their worst, the cells have to depart from a tumor in the breast, prostate or other site of origin and set up a colony in another part of the body. In nine out of 10 cases, it’s these metastases that kill patients. In short order, they pop up in multiple places, too many to yield to the surgeon’s scalpel and with genetic alterations that make them more resistant to chemotherapy and radiation than the original tumor ever was.

Kudos for U of G Prof, Cancer Researcher

October 28, 2020

By University of Guelph, Canada

Guelph - A University of Guelph biomedical scientist has been named the 2009 winner of the prestigious Jennifer Dorrington Award from the Banting Research Foundation, Canada’s oldest medical research institute.

Primary and Metastatic Tumors from Same Patient Sequenced

October 23, 2020

By National Cancer Institute

Using next-generation DNA sequencing technology, researchers in Canada have compared the genetic changes in two breast tumors collected from the same patient 9 years apart. The secondary tumor (metastasis) included genetic changes not present in the tumor sample collected at diagnosis, suggesting that “significant evolution can occur with disease progression,” the researchers reported in the October 8 Nature.

Breast Cancer Genetic Evolution Decoded

October 9, 2020

By Michael Smith, North American Correspondent, MedPage Today

In what they called a “watershed event,” Canadian researchers reported that the genetic code of breast cancer evolves over time, a finding they said might lead to more targeted treatments.