Researchers at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center have developed a new molecule based on migrastatin derived from Streptomyces bacteria. The study reveals how the new agent works to prevent metastasis, by attacking an actin cytoskeletal protein critical for cell movement.
Anti-Cancer Agent Stops Metastasis In Its Tracks
Mice implanted with cancer cells and treated with the small molecule macroketone lived a full life without any cancer spread, compared with control animals, which all died of metastasis. When macroketone was given a week after cancer cells were introduced, it still blocked greater than 80 percent of cancer metastasis in mice.