A novel approach to target metastases of melanoma cells in an organ-selective manner

Excerpt

Cancer is a leading cause of death globally and the majority of patients will die from the formation of metastases rather than from their primary tumour as most metastases are resistant to conventional therapies. Based on numerous clinical observations it is clear that different cancers have a propensity to metastasize to specific organs. The central hypothesis for our current study is that an organs vasculature is intimately involved in mediating the interaction between specific cancer cells and the target organ for which they will metastasize to. In this respect we have focused on how melanoma cancer cells metastasize to the liver and lungs, two major sites of metastatic disease within the body, in order to provide insight for the development of new treatments for metastatic cancer. …