Breast Cancer Recruits Bone Marrow Cells to Increase Cancer Cell Proliferation

Tel Aviv University researchers have discovered that breast cancer tumors boost their growth by recruiting stromal cells that originate in bone marrow. While the recruitment of bone marrow-derived fibroblasts lowers the odds of surviving breast cancer, the study suggests that targeting these cells with new therapies could be an effective way of treating the disease.

Research for the study was led by Prof. Neta Erez of the Department of Pathology at TAU's Sackler School of Medicine and conducted by Prof. Erez's former doctoral students Dr. Yael Raz and Dr. Noam Cohen. The study was published on November 23 in the Journal of Experimental Medicine.