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Science Surgery: ‘How do tumours ‘know’ where to spread?’

by Katie Roberts | Analysis

18 April 2019

16 comments 16 comments

Microscope image of pancreatic cancer cells
Pancreatic cancer cells - image courtesy of the London Research Institute EM Unit
This entry is part 14 of 23 in the series Science Surgery
Series Navigation<< Science Surgery: ‘Why doesn’t the immune system attack cancer cells?’Science Surgery: ‘How is skin cancer related to sun exposure?’ >>

Our Science Surgery series answers your cancer science questions.

James asked: “How do tumours ‘know’ where to spread?”

“It’s hard to talk about tumours ‘knowing’ something,” says Professor Laura Machesky, an expert in how cancers spread at the Cancer Research UK Beatson Institute in Glasgow. “But it does seem like they know what they’re doing sometimes.”

This, Machesky says, is because cancers have “predictable patterns”, meaning certain cancers usually spread to particular parts of the body.

Breast cancer, for example, usually goes to places like the lungs, liver brain or bones if it spreads, whereas pancreatic cancer is more likely to spread to the liver.

“It makes it look like the cancer knows what it’s doing,” says Machesky. “But really we think that cancer cells are being randomly shed from the tumour – the cells come off and they get distributed around the body – and the majority of them die.”

A few of these free-wheeling tumour cells survive our bloodstream, finding a place to settle in another part of the body, if the conditions are right.

What do cancer cells need to spread?

When cancer cells break away from the tumour, they face a tough environment. There’s a good chance that they’ll be broken up by the flowing force of our bloodstream, like a raging river tossing a boat around.

But if the cells do survive this journey, they then need to land in welcoming place where there are nutrients, oxygen – and in a place where they’re protected from the immune system.

If they find all of these things, they may be able to survive in their new home in the body and form a secondary tumour.

“I like to think that, for example, if a million cells get out of a tumour and spread all around the body randomly then only a few of them will survive,” says Machesky.

This is often called the ‘seed and soil’ theory of cancer spread. The theory goes that cancer cells are like seeds being dotted around the body, but to grow and become a secondary tumour they need to find fertile soil to settle in.

And it seems that pancreatic cancer cells are somehow better able to settle and survive in the liver than in other places. But why?

Scientists think this could be down to sticky hooks found on the surface of cancer cells. These hooks act a bit like Velcro, allowing cells to latch on and stick in certain places in the body. Normal cells have these hooks too, allowing them to survive and form larger structures like organs where specific cell types stick together in an organised way.

And if different types of cancers have different hooks on their surface, they may find it easier to stick in different places.

But it might not be quite that simple. Scientists are beginning to discover that far from a game of chance, tumours might actually be able to alter tissues in other parts of the body, stacking the odds of survival in their favour.

Prepping the soil

“Tumours can cause changes around the body, not only at the site where they’re at,” says Machesky.

Take the example of a pancreatic tumour: “If you a tumour in your pancreas then there may be changes happening in the liver that make it easier for the tumour to spread there.”

One of the things that may help to prep the soil for tumour spread are tiny bubble-like structures called vesicles, which we’ve blogged about before. These microscopic blobs can break off from cancer cells and float around the body, carrying messages on their surface.

Machesky says these vesicles could help to prepare certain parts of the body for tumour spread. For example, the vesicles could signal to the liver to become a bit inflamed. This might cause the liver to have leaky blood vessels, allowing more oxygen into the tissue. And it’s the culmination of these changes that may help to create an environment that’s easier for spreading tumour cells to settle and grow in.

Stopping spread

Scientists have learnt a lot about how tumours spread. But Machesky thinks there’s still more to come. And a big problem with studying cancer spread is finding a way to recreate it in the lab.

“When we’re studying cancer spread, we’re talking about a few cells initially escaping from the primary site and sitting quietly in another place in the body and there isn’t a good model for this,” she says. “There isn’t a really clear way to see how to study it, so I think that’s one of the challenges.”

But while the problem isn’t simple, the benefits of understanding cancer spread could be big. Machesky says there’s a lot of excitement about developing ‘anti-spread’ treatments that target tumours’ likely second homes before the cancer has a chance to move. By making the sites unfavourable for tumours to survive, they may be able to stop the spread before it’s even started.

“That’s kind of hard to do because you don’t want to take someone with breast cancer whose successfully been treated and give them medicine that goes into their brain without thinking really carefully about the risk,” says Machesky.

Stopping cancer spread might be tricky, but it’s something that scientists are becoming increasingly interested in.

“In the early days we focused most of our efforts on the primary tumour,” says Machesky. “But now, we’re starting to think about how to target those sites where tumour cells might be hiding out.”

Katie

We’d like to thank James for asking this question. If you’d like to ask us something, post a comment below or email [email protected] with your question and first name.

    Comments

  • Katie Roberts
    12 June 2019

    Thanks to everyone who has submitted a science surgery question, we really appreciate your interest. We can’t answer every question we receive, but make sure you follow the series on our blog to keep an eye out for those we do. We can’t give medical advice on individual cases, but If you would like to speak to one of our nurses please call them on freephone 0808 800 4040.

    Best wishes,

    Katie, Cancer Research UK.

  • Danny
    18 May 2019

    Why do nearly all men have prostate cancer cells in thier prostate by age 80? Why is prostate cancer so common? It’s like virtually all men are going to have some signs of it in thier later years. Keep up the good work!

  • Cathy Renwick
    15 May 2019

    Helpful, interesting and easy to understand.

  • laura preston preston
    12 May 2019

    some tumours are heredatary born with some are and never become cancer and take years to grow

  • Stephen stackhouse
    12 May 2019

    Excellent read

  • Ann
    11 May 2019

    Gelreat to read about the progress and the right amount of science for everone to understand

  • Michael brunt
    11 May 2019

    good info. Keep it coming.

  • Andrée Dyke
    11 May 2019

    Knowledge can make you stronger, and this Article has explained the ability of cells from tumours to spread.

  • Mrs Margaret Weston
    11 May 2019

    I’m a cancer survivor and my two sisters died and now my mother has been diagnosed at 85years old . I’m struggling to understand that the genetic tests are saying we all had different breast cancers and there is no link . They were all oestrogen sensitive and hers 2 negative . What are the chances of this happening in one family ? The spread of cancer is very interesting thank you for sharing .

  • Fortunata Maria Slepcikova
    11 May 2019

    Can we survived from cancer

  • Jan Cooper
    11 May 2019

    My husband had bowel cancer which spread to liver and lungs before it was diagnosed he had a poor test three months before he was diagnosed which was clear how did this happen he didn’t have any symptoms didn’t smoke or drink and wasn’t overweight had a healthy diet and exercised how did this happen

  • Garth Maguire
    10 May 2019

    Very interesting

  • Avril Cruse
    10 May 2019

    very informative, have a husband who was diagnosed with bowel cancer in 2009 and had 4 further metastasis removed over a 5 year period

  • Bryan Dennis Johnson
    10 May 2019

    Very Informative

  • Vicky Pearson
    9 May 2019

    Can you tell me why bowl cancer is harder to detect than any other cancers?

  • Dr Sheena Bell
    9 May 2019

    Finding your information really useful- I am not a scientist but have a PhD in research into Special Education. I have had, and still have, family and friends with cancer. You do an amazing and varied job.

    Comments

  • Katie Roberts
    12 June 2019

    Thanks to everyone who has submitted a science surgery question, we really appreciate your interest. We can’t answer every question we receive, but make sure you follow the series on our blog to keep an eye out for those we do. We can’t give medical advice on individual cases, but If you would like to speak to one of our nurses please call them on freephone 0808 800 4040.

    Best wishes,

    Katie, Cancer Research UK.

  • Danny
    18 May 2019

    Why do nearly all men have prostate cancer cells in thier prostate by age 80? Why is prostate cancer so common? It’s like virtually all men are going to have some signs of it in thier later years. Keep up the good work!

  • Cathy Renwick
    15 May 2019

    Helpful, interesting and easy to understand.

  • laura preston preston
    12 May 2019

    some tumours are heredatary born with some are and never become cancer and take years to grow

  • Stephen stackhouse
    12 May 2019

    Excellent read

  • Ann
    11 May 2019

    Gelreat to read about the progress and the right amount of science for everone to understand

  • Michael brunt
    11 May 2019

    good info. Keep it coming.

  • Andrée Dyke
    11 May 2019

    Knowledge can make you stronger, and this Article has explained the ability of cells from tumours to spread.

  • Mrs Margaret Weston
    11 May 2019

    I’m a cancer survivor and my two sisters died and now my mother has been diagnosed at 85years old . I’m struggling to understand that the genetic tests are saying we all had different breast cancers and there is no link . They were all oestrogen sensitive and hers 2 negative . What are the chances of this happening in one family ? The spread of cancer is very interesting thank you for sharing .

  • Fortunata Maria Slepcikova
    11 May 2019

    Can we survived from cancer

  • Jan Cooper
    11 May 2019

    My husband had bowel cancer which spread to liver and lungs before it was diagnosed he had a poor test three months before he was diagnosed which was clear how did this happen he didn’t have any symptoms didn’t smoke or drink and wasn’t overweight had a healthy diet and exercised how did this happen

  • Garth Maguire
    10 May 2019

    Very interesting

  • Avril Cruse
    10 May 2019

    very informative, have a husband who was diagnosed with bowel cancer in 2009 and had 4 further metastasis removed over a 5 year period

  • Bryan Dennis Johnson
    10 May 2019

    Very Informative

  • Vicky Pearson
    9 May 2019

    Can you tell me why bowl cancer is harder to detect than any other cancers?

  • Dr Sheena Bell
    9 May 2019

    Finding your information really useful- I am not a scientist but have a PhD in research into Special Education. I have had, and still have, family and friends with cancer. You do an amazing and varied job.