Feb. 26, 2013 Researchers at the University of Hawai'i Cancer
Center have uncovered a novel mechanism that may lead to more
selective ways to stop cancer cells from spreading. Associate
Professor Joe W. Ramos PhD, a cancer biologist at the UH Cancer
Center and his team have identified the role of the protein RSK2
in cancer cell migration, part of the process of cancer
metastasis. Cancer becomes metastatic when cells break away from
the primary tumor and spread to other parts of the body.
Metastatic cancer is much more difficult to treat and patients
with metastatic cancer have a generally worse prognosis. "The
cancers that kill are those that spread to other parts of the
body or disseminate within the organ," said Ramos. "If we could
keep cancer cells confined to the primary tumor mass, we could
remove it with less risk of metastasis and later recurrence."
The Ramos team reports that RSK2 significantly increases cell
migration in part by reducing integrin activation. Integrins
play an important role in cell a