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Coxet al. have shown that metastasis of certain breast cancers to bone can be driven by the enzyme lysyl oxidase (LOX), which induces bone lesions that provide a landing site for circulating tumour cells.
Zhuet al. find that the homing of multiple myeloma cells to the bone marrow is promoted by cyclophilin A–CD147 signalling between bone marrow endothelial cells and myeloma cells.
Most patient-derived tumours grown subcutaneously as xenografts do not metastasize, but metastasis can occur if intact tumour tissue is orthotopically implanted. This Comment argues that these orthotopic xenografts therefore better mimic patient tumours.
Two recent studies add to the evidence supporting an important role for extracellular vesicles in promoting metastasis and provide a new technique for analysing these vesiclesin vivo.
Two different devices have been developed to deliver cancer drugs directly into tumoursin vivoto evaluate cell penetration, drug stability and effectiveness.
Liuet al. show that the mushroom-derived toxin α-amanitin, conjugated to antibodies against a tumour-specific biomarker, might be effective therapeutically (with minimal toxicity) for tumours that have hemizygous deletions of TP53 that also encompass POLR2A.
Gundemet al. sequenced a series of primary tumours and matched metastases from patients with metastatic prostate cancer; they showed that metastases are often seeded by multiple clones and that there are multiple paths of metastatic spreading.
Petersonet al. report that basal cell carcinomas primarily arise from stem cells within hair follicle and touch dome epithelia, and that cutaneous nerves promote tumorigenesis.
Two papers report on the preclinical efficacy of targeting the menin–MLL interaction in MLL-translocation-associated leukaemias and in prostate cancer.
