Bone or bust.

Have you ever wondered why certain cancer cells sail the bloodstream only until reaching one particular niche where they settle a new homestead? It likely has just as much to do with the new frontier as the settler. While the cytokine IL1β has long been thought to be an important beacon for mets, this basic science exploration makes the concept a whole lot clearer. It demonstrates that IL1β produced in marrow homes circulating breast cancer cells to bone where they form new colonies. More importantly, clinically speaking, an anti-mouse IL1β-antibody prevented breast cancer bone mets in murine models. TBL: 8Gy x 1 is great, but readily available drugs known to hinder the IL1β-signaling pathway (e.g. sulfasalazine) could prove to prevent bone mets in the first place. | Eyre, Nat Commun 2019