Disabling defences in the brain

摘要

Most deaths from cancer are not caused by the primary tumour. A cancer can spread from the primary tumour to other organs through a process known as metastasis, and it is the growth of metastatic tumours that ultimately compromises normal organ function and is responsible for more than 90% of deaths in cancer patients. Brain metastases present one of the poorest prognoses for cancer patients, and their rate of incidence is increasing. Fortunately, metastasis is a highly inefficient process: fewer than 0.01% of cells that leave a primary tumour are able to colonize and grow in other organs. The underlying molecular mechanisms that govern initial metastatic cancer-cell survival and growth in secondary organs remain largely unknown and are an area of intensive research. Writing in Cell, Valiente et al. show how cancer cells that have metastasized to the brain overcome death signals from host tissue cells and use the pre-existing vasculature to enable their proliferative growth.