Dysfunction junction
Shutting down a paracrine loop that promotes brain metastases
Researchers from Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center have shown brain metastases build gap junctions to flood neighboring astrocytes with pro-inflammatory signaling molecules, causing the cells to secrete cytokines that fuel tumor growth via a paracrine feedback loop. The team has launched a pilot clinical study to see whether a gap junction inhibitor can kill the cycle and stem cancer growth in
