Ovarian cancer cells that survive chemotherapy stop dividing but do not go quiet. New research finds they keep releasing molecules, and one of those molecules is a common sugar that appears to help the tumor cells around them break loose and travel.
The study, published in Nature Aging by researchers at The Wistar Institute with collaborators at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, identifies fructose as a signal passed between cancer cells after treatment. Aidan Cole, PhD, the first author, described the surviving cells this way: some cancer cells that survive chemotherapy aren't dividing anymore, but they're still biologically active.
