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Roadblocks to translational advances on metastasis research

Nature Medicine volume 19, pages 1104–1109 (2013)Cite this article

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Promising advances in cancer therapy stemming from an increasing understanding of the molecular and genetic underpinnings of the tumorigenic process have been fueled by a strong, determined scientific community, influential patient advocacy groups and committed funding bodies. Despite these efforts, the development of effective drugs to prevent systemic dissemination of cancer cells or to eliminate overt metastasis in secondary organs remains a challenge to both researchers and physicians. In an attempt to tackle the most relevant and timely translational issues, a meeting held in 2012 as a result of a successful partnership between the Volkswagen Foundation and Nature Medicine brought together a group of metastasis research experts to identify the most important hurdles and help create a framework for potential clinical and translational strategies.

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Acknowledgements

T.B. is supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (SFB850, B2 and SFB992, C06) and the Deutsche Krebshilfe (grant 109430).

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Author notes

  1. Thomas Brabletz, David Lyden, Patricia S Steeg and Zena Werb: All authors contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Thomas Brabletz is at the Department of General and Visceral Surgery, Comprehensive Cancer Center and BIOSS Centre for Biological Signalling Studies, University of Freiburg Medical Center, Freiburg, Germany.,

    Thomas Brabletz

  2. David Lyden is at the Department of Pediatrics and the Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, Weill Cornell Medical College and Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, New York, USA.,

    David Lyden

  3. Patricia S. Steeg is in the Women's Cancers Section, Laboratory of Molecular Pharmacology, Center for Cancer Research, US National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, Maryland, USA.,

    Patricia S Steeg

  4. Zena Werb is at the Department of Anatomy, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, California, USA.,

    Zena Werb

Authors
  1. Thomas Brabletz
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  2. David Lyden
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  3. Patricia S Steeg
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  4. Zena Werb
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Thomas Brabletz, David Lyden, Patricia S Steeg or Zena Werb.

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Competing interests

P.S.S. receives research funding from Sanofi. The other authors declare no conflict of interest.

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Brabletz, T., Lyden, D., Steeg, P. et al. Roadblocks to translational advances on metastasis research. Nat Med 19, 1104–1109 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/nm.3327

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