To test this idea, the researchers utilized two mouse models of human breast cancer metastasis and found dormant disseminated tumor cells residing upon the membrane microvasculature of lung, bone marrow and brain tissue. (sciencedaily.com)
The identification of dormant niches in basement membrane microvasculature and how those niches become metastatic in the neovasculature holds important implications for future breast cancer therapies. (sciencedaily.com)
With their organotypic models, Ghajar, Bissell and their collaborators discovered that the protein thrombospondin - 1, which is prevalent in stable microvasculature, creates a dormant niche by suppressing the growth of breast cancer cells. (sciencedaily.com)