Endothelial progenitor cells may play a role in the start and progression of metastatic disease in children with cancer, according to study results published in Clinical Cancer Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research.

In human relationships, a certain "spark" often governs whether we prefer one person to another, and critical first impressions can occur within seconds. A team lead by Johns Hopkins researchers has found that cell-to-cell "friendships" operate in much the same way and that dysfunctional bonding is linked to the spread of cancer.

Researchers at the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee have a pending patent on a new synthetic form of a protein involved in certain types of cancers and immune system diseases.

A common signature of tiny, specific pieces of non-coding genetic material known as microRNAs (miRNAs) may be directly involved in the spread of cancer to other parts of the body. Researchers at the Kimmel Cancer Center at Jefferson in Philadelphia and Ohio State University Medical Center in Columbus have identified such a signature, made up mostly of overexpressed miRNAs.

Metastasis, the spread of cancer throughout the body, can be explained by the fusion of a cancer cell with a white blood cell in the original tumor, according to Yale School of Medicine researchers, who say that this single event can set the stage for cancer’s migration to other parts of the body.

A gene mutation responsible for the most common form of inherited colon cancer is older and more common than formerly believed, according to a recent study

Sugar-based markers on human sperm cells which may prevent them from being attacked by the female immune system could provide a vital clue to how some cancers spread in the human body, according to new research published on 14 December 2007.

Individuals who receive blood transfusions from donors with undiagnosed cancers are at no higher risk of developing malignant disease than people who receive blood from donors without cancer, according to the results of a retrospective study published in The Lancet last month.

Johns Hopkins researchers have found a way to directly observe cell migration -- in real time and in living tissue. In a report in the June 5 issue of Developmental Cell, the scientists say their advance could lead to strategies for controlling both normal growth and the spread of cancer, processes that depend on the programmed, organized movement of cells across space

Scientists have made a breakthrough in understanding how cancers spread in what could lead to new ways of beating the disease.