Researchers successfully inhibit spread of cancer in mice.

2003 JUL 3 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Many types of cancer would not be nearly as deadly if it weren't for their ability to spread to vital organs. Still, scientists don't yet fully understand the way in which cancer spreads (metastasizes) or how to prevent the process.

Now researchers at the San Francisco VA Medical Center (SFVAMC) have used a modified version of a naturally occurring human protein to decrease the spread of human breast cancer implanted in mice.

"We were able to significantly reduce the spread of the disease and decrease tumor growth without any evidence of toxicity," said senior author Gary Jarvis, PhD, a SFVAMC microbiologist and University of California, San Francisco, associate professor of laboratory medicine.

The findings appeared in the June 2003 issue of Clinical Cancer Research.

Jarvis credits first author Constance John, PhD, a research chemist in his lab at the time, with coming up with the idea of interfering with the ability of cancer cells to stick to one another as a way of attacking metastasis. The ability to adhere to other cells is what allows a cell that breaks away from a primary tumor to lodge in other parts of the body.

"It's when tumors spread to essential organs, such as the liver or lung, that they become fatal. There is nothing to date that has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for treatment of cancer that works on that process," said John.

John, who is no longer affiliated with SFVAMC, is currently the president of MandalMed, Inc., a San Francisco-based company working to develop a drug that inhibits metastasis based on these findings. (Jarvis, of SFVAMC/UCSF, has no financial stake in MandalMed.)