Future work will involve identifying the type of macrophages involved in early dissemination and exactly how the process occurs, which potentially could lead to the development of novel therapies to prevent it. The study was published online January 2 in Nature Communications."We show that by disrupting this (process), we can prevent early dissemination and, ultimately, deadly metastasis," Aguirre-Ghiso said in an email to Reuters Health."Cancer geneticist and researcher Dr."Our study challenges the dogma that early diagnosis and treatment means sure cure," he said.In previous work, the team identified a group of early cancer cells that get disseminated into the body during the earliest stages of breast cancer, before any cancer can be detected. (Photo: Pixabay) Normal immune cells that live near milk ducts in healthy breast tissue may play a key role in helping early breast cancer cells leave the breast for other parts of the body, researchers say.Future work will involve identifying the type of macrophages involved in early dissemination and exactly how the process occurs. "What if metastases happen way before you ever see the cancer on a screening test?" Even so," he said, "our findings point to the notion that early treatment of high-risk patients may prevent the formation of deadly metastasis better than the current standard of treating metastatic disease (only after it has appeared). This could possibly cause cancer to metastasize, or spread, even before a tumour has developed. Working in mice and in human cells in the laboratory, the team found that dissemination occurs when macrophages are attracted to the milk ducts, where they trigger a chain reaction that enables the early cancer cells to leave the breast."However, "the point that patients with small ‘early’ breast cancers are not necessarily cured (by early treatment) is a good one," she said.In the current study, they report that immune cells called macrophages play an important part in this process.It could also be a "starting point" for a test that could identify patients with the earliest form of breast cancer, known as ductal cell carcinoma in situ, who may already have disseminated disease, he suggested." But for now, she cautioned, "the extension of this hypothesis to humans remains speculative.This could possibly cause cancer to metastasize, or spread, even before a tumor has developed, according to Dr. Julio Aguirre-Ghiso of The Tisch Cancer Institute at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City and colleagues. Theodora Ross of UT Southwestern in Dallas told Reuters Health by email, "The concept that macrophages are assisting in early metastases is so intriguing.The kind of large, double-blind clinical trial that could prove this approach is still Steel Rivet Nuts far in the future, Aguirre-Ghiso noted