Original Story: Global News
Artwork by Natasia Designs
University of Alberta researcher John Lewis and his team have found 11 genes that are responsible for metastasis-the spread of cancer in the body.
"It's of potentially incredible significance," said Lewis, the Frank and Carla Sojonky Chair in Prostate Cancer Research funded by the Alberta Cancer Foundation, and a member of the Cancer Research Institute of Northern Alberta (CRINA). "Metastasis kills 90 per cent of all patients who have cancer, and with this study we have discovered 11 new ways to potentially end metastasis."
Clinical trials could begin within three years on drugs to block those genes in patients with prostate, pancreatic or brain cancer.
The study was published in Nature Communications and the research was funded by the Canadian Cancer Society and the Alberta Cancer Foundation.