Cancer cells enlist adult stem cells to promote metastasis
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Green fluorescent mesenchymal stem cells in a primary tumor. These cells may be responsible for metastasis in a significant subset of breast cancer patients. Image / Antoine Karnoub
Everyone knows that tumors are packed with cancer cells, but many normal cells live among these deviants. The normal cells form a structural framework called the stroma, which was once thought to resemble passive scaffolding. But a growing body of research suggests that cancer cells actively recruit normal cells from local and distant sites to the scaffolding, where they release signals that help the tumor thrive.
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