DHAKA: The deadly spread of cancer around the body has been cut by three-quarters in animal experiments, say scientists.

Tumors can ‘seed’ themselves elsewhere in the body and this process is behind 90 percent of cancer deaths.

The mouse study, published in Nature, showed altering the immune system slowed the spread of skin cancers to the lungs.

Cancer Research UK said the early work gave new insight into how tumors spread and may lead to new treatments, reports the BBC.

The spread of cancer - known as metastasis - is a fight between a rapidly mutating cancer and the rest of the body.

The team at the Sanger Institute in Cambridge was trying to figure out what affected tumor spread in the body.

The field of immunotherapy - harnessing the power of the immune system to fight cancer - has delivered dramatic results for some patients.

A rare few with a terminal diagnosis have seen all signs of cancer disappear from their body, although the drugs still fail to work in many patients.

“Cancer that has spread is tough to treat, so research such as this is vital in the search for ways to tackle this process.”

BDST: 1503 HRS, JAN 14, 2017
LM/BD