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Metastasis-promoting circulating tumor cell clusters pass through capillary-sized vessels

April 20, 2016

Investigators have found that circulating tumor cell clusters -- which are more efficient in spreading cancer throughout the body than are single CTCs -- can pass through capillary-sized blood vessels. Their findings contradict the widely-held belief that CTC clusters are too large to pass through capillaries and suggest potential strategies to reduce clusters' metastatic potential.