Tumor Cells Invade Bone (IMAGE)

Princeton University

Tumor Cells Invade Bone

Caption

Researchers at Princeton University have found that microRNAs -- small bits of genetic material capable of repressing the expression of certain genes -- may serve as both therapeutic targets and predictors of metastasis, or a cancer's spread from its initial site to other parts of the body. In this image, breast cancer cells (right) spread toward the hindlimb bone (left), using the host's own bone-destroying cells (osteoclasts) to continue their advance.

Credit

(Image courtesy of Yibin Kang, Department of Molecular Biology)

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