Cancer

Patient sample and mouse studies suggest promoting the expression of KIF16B, SELENOW and TESK2 could help prevent brain metastasis in lung cancer. In patients, low expression of KIF16B, SELENOW and TESK2 in primary tumors correlated with poor survival. In brain-metastasis initiating cells (BMICs) identified in and isolated from lung cancer patients, the generic dopamine receptor agonist apomorphine increased expression of KIF16B, SELENOW and TESK2 compared with vehicle. In mice injected with the patient-derived BMICs, apomorphine prevented the formation of brain metastases in six of six treated animals, whereas brain metastases formed in all three vehicle-treated animals. Next steps include identifying additional druggable targets involved in metastasis initiation...