Scientists find breast cancer cells hiding behind protective “shields”
Researchers have mapped breast tumors to identify clusters of dormant cancer cells protected by surrounding tissue. These quiescent cells can survive chemotherapy and later reactivate, suggesting future treatments must target both active and dormant cells.
Why it matters
Understanding how cancer cells hide from treatment is critical for developing therapies that prevent disease recurrence and metastasis.
Researchers from the MRC Laboratory of Medical Sciences (LMS), Imperial College London, and UCL Genetics Institute have built a detailed cellular map of breast tumors, revealing separate regions filled with actively dividing cancer cells and others containing dormant cells. Published in Genome Medicine , the findings show that these inactive cancer cells are often surrounded by immune and connective tissue cells that may help protect them from treatment.
The work suggests that future cancer therapies may need to do more than attack fast-growing tumor cells. They may also need to target dormant cancer cells and the local environments that allow them to persist, with the goal of stopping tumor growth while reducing the risk that the disease returns later.
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