Normal cells exchange signals with cancerous cells within a tumor

A new study was conducted in a collaborative effort by Mikala Egeblad and Scott Powers. This study tried to find new ways of fighting cancer by targeting the local environment where cancer cells thrive. They looked at breast cancer cells and their interaction with other normal cells in the local environment. They noticed that even if they considered the interaction between breast cancer cells and only one type of local normal cell called the fibroblasts, most of the signals exchanged by the two types of cells promoted cancer. After taking a closer look at the signals they also found that each signal had a different effect on the tumor cells. When the signals were being blocked, the researchers found evidence that blocking several of the signals at a time had more inhibiting effect on the tumor growth than blocking individual signals.