Could Halting Cancer Cell Motility Stop Metastasis In Its Tracks?

Cancer wouldn't be able to spread if its cells couldn't independently detach, invade other areas of the body, and establish new cellular colonies. So it tracks, then, that targeting cellular motility could stop metastasis—an application that could offer new hope to millions of cancer patients.

That's why researchers continue to investigate the preclinical applications of motility-interrupting treatments for metastatic cancers, particularly for use in personalized medicine. The use of 2D cultures lets scientists conduct genetic and pharmacological screenings, while 3D models expand that promise in new ways by using extracellular matrices (ECMs) to establish recapitulating in vivo architectures.

As the prominence of cell motility research grows, 3D models could fill knowledge gaps in many areas, including those studying the role of cell motility in how cancer spreads.