Researchers at Queen's University Belfast have found that the non-cancerous tissue, or 'stroma', surrounding cancers of the throat and cervix, can stop cancer from spreading by closing the communication pathway between the healthy tissue and the tumour.
"Cancer spreads as the result of two-way communication between the cancer cells in a tumour and the non-cancerous cells in the surrounding tissue," lead researcher Professor Dennis McCance said.
"We already know that cancer cells are intrinsically programmed to invade neighbouring healthy tissue. But the cells in the non-cancerous tissue are also programmed to send messages to the cancer cells, actively encouraging them to invade. If these messages