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METASTASIS

Trafficking signals for metastasis

Nature Reviews Cancer volume 19, page 127 (2019)Cite this article

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Cytotoxic chemotherapy can effectively treat invasive breast cancer, but studies in mice have suggested that it can also have pro-metastatic effects. Keklikoglou et al. now show that, in mouse models of chemoresistant breast cancer, paclitaxel and doxorubicin trigger the production of tumour-derived extracellular vesicles (EVs) with pro-metastatic properties.

EVs can aid the metastasis of primary tumours by influencing cells associated with the pre-metastatic niche. Here, compared with controls, EVs isolated from 4T1 mammary tumour cells (4T1 cells) or murine mammary tumours following paclitaxel treatment increased the number of metastatic nodules in tumour-free mice challenged with metastasis-forming cancer cells. Thus, paclitaxel-induced EVs appear to promote breast cancer metastasis. As EVs derived from murine mammary tumours following doxorubicin treatment also enhanced lung metastasis in mice, this phenomenon is not paclitaxel-specific.

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  1. Nature Reviews Cancer http://www.nature.com/nrc/

    Katharine H. Wrighton

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  1. Katharine H. Wrighton
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Correspondence to Katharine H. Wrighton.

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Wrighton, K.H. Trafficking signals for metastasis. Nat Rev Cancer 19, 127 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41568-019-0111-2

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