Tiny bubbles could help stop cancer from spreading
Scientists have discovered that cancer cells send out tiny bubbles (called extracellular vesicles) to mess with healthy cells and help the disease spread.
Now, a team at ETS and McGill is making fake versions of these bubbles—synthetic liposomes—to figure out exactly how they work and how to stop them.
Lab-made liposomes give new clues about cancer's tricks
By copying the size and charge of real vesicles, researchers found that the closer the liposomes matched natural vesicles in size and electrical charge, the more readily cancer cells took them in.
This means these lab-made particles are great for studying how cancer spreads—and might reveal ways to block it.
Why this matters for future treatments
Liposomes are already used to deliver some chemo drugs straight to tumors, making treatment easier on healthy tissue.
If scientists can learn how to block or reroute these sneaky bubbles, it could lead to smarter therapies that slow down or even prevent cancer from spreading—giving patients a better shot at recovery.