The first step in treating cancer is understanding how it starts, grows and spreads throughout the body.
The first step in treating cancer is understanding how it starts, grows and spreads throughout the body. A relatively new cancer research approach is the study of metabolites, the products of different steps in cancer cell metabolism, and how those substances interact.
To date, research like this has focused mostly on cancerous tissues; however, normal tissues that surround tumors, known as the extratumoral microenvironment (EM), may have conditions favorable for tumor formation and should also be studied.
In a new study published in the journal PLoS One, researchers investigated the metabolites involved in the growth and spread of melanoma, a rare but deadly type of skin cancer. The study, led by Nicholas Taylor, assistant professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the Texas A&M University School of Public Health, analyzed frozen tissue samples from melanoma patients at the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute in Tampa, Florida. These included samples of primary melanoma and matching EM tissues as well as unmatched metastatic melanoma tissues (melanoma that had spread to other parts of the body).
Read more at: Texas A&M University
