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Cell biology

Tumour jailbreak

New work shows that a cage-like matrix of protein fibres around cells can inhibit the growth of tumours. But cancer cells producing the enzyme MT1-MMP can cleave this matrix and proliferate freely.

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Figure 1: Tumour cells: prisoners and escapees.

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Yamada, K. Tumour jailbreak. Nature 424, 889–890 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1038/424889a

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