Investigators found that radiation and chemotherapy raise levels of TGF-beta.

Scientists have linked a treatment-induced growth factor to cancer metastasis in a mouse model of metastatic breast cancer. The Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center team report in the May issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation that radiation and chemotherapy increase circulating levels of the growth factor TGF-beta, circulating cancer cells, and tumor metastases.


The study also found that blocking TGF-beta in the model prevented tumor metastases, suggesting that TGF-beta inhibitors may be clinically useful in combination with primary therapies.


Radiation therapy and the chemotherapeutic agents doxorubicin and docetaxel all increased TGF-beta levels and accelerated metastasis, an effect that was blocked by neutralizing antibodies directed against TGF-beta.


The team is currently assessing TGF-beta levels in the serum of patients with breast cancer who are being treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy to shrink the tumor prior to surgery.

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