Metastagenes - a world-leading discovery

 

Through our funding of the Cancer and Polio Research Funds Laboratories at the University of Liverpool and our support of research carried out there, a new class of cancer-related genes, the metastagenes, has been identified by Professor Philip Rudland and his team of scientists.  These metastagenes do not initiate the formation of tumours, but rather are responsible for their spread.  These discoveries have placed the Laboratories in a position as one of the world’s leaders in the field of metastasis.

This exciting discovery puts us one step closer to saving the lives of people with cancer.  To put it simply, the next step is to develop new drugs that will switch off the effect of the metastagenes and so prevent cancer from spreading.  If we can do this, we can prevent the deaths of many cancer patients.  Their primary tumour can be successfully treated, allowing them to get on with their lives.