Could this discovery stop cancer before it spreads?

A major breakthrough in cancer research could lead to a powerful new way to stop the disease before it spreads.

Scientists have uncovered a striking difference between aggressive and less aggressive breast tumours: spikes. Highly aggressive tumours are covered in tiny spikes, resembling a conker, while less dangerous ones remain smooth and round.

These spikes may serve as escape routes, allowing cancer cells to travel quickly to vital organs like the lungs, liver, and brain. Once the disease spreads, treatment becomes far more difficult, often leading to terminal diagnoses.

This discovery, which could pave the way for new treatments, emerged from an analysis of 30 breast cancer patients and 65 people with melanoma.

The Spiky Secret of Cancer’s Spread

The research team believes these spikes act as a shortcut to the bloodstream, helping cancerous cells break free and infiltrate the body. The spikes are made from fibres in the extracellular matrix—a network of proteins that surrounds tumours.

Professor Victoria Sanz Moreno, a senior researcher at The Institute of Cancer Research, London, who led the study, explained:

“If we can see these spiky tumours in people’s biopsies, then we can target their cancer cells with existing drugs to help prevent cancer from spreading.

This could be part of a treatment plan, along with other drugs and chemotherapy, which might improve survival. We could also be able to slow down the spread in people who have terminal cancer.”

To test their theory, researchers replicated these spike-covered tumours in the lab and found that the cancer cells became tougher, rounder, and more mobile—ideal traits for travelling through the body.

When implanted into mice, these aggressive cells spread rapidly into the lungs, reinforcing the idea that spikes help cancer move faster.

A Deadly Connection

Further analysis revealed a worrying pattern: patients with spiky, shape-shifting tumours had significantly lower survival rates.

Those who died sooner had cancer cells with a more active set of genes controlling shape and size—suggesting that the spikes trigger these genes, making cancer cells even more dangerous.

The good news? Drugs already exist that could disrupt this process. By stopping the spikes from forming, scientists believe they may be able to contain cancer within the tumour, making it easier to destroy with current treatments.

Rethinking Cancer Detection and Treatment

Currently, cancer treatment focuses on removing tumours or shrinking them with chemotherapy. But if cancer is caught too late, stray cells can escape and spread.

While these rogue cells can move through fatty tissue and lymph nodes, their fastest route is the bloodstream—a direct highway to other organs. Scientists suspect tumour spikes may connect directly to blood vessels, creating a fast-track for cancer to spread.

Although this theory is still being investigated, one thing is clear: these spikes make cancer cells more efficient travellers. They allow cells to move quicker, resist damage, and squeeze through blood vessels with ease.

This discovery could revolutionise how doctors detect and treat aggressive cancers. If biopsies reveal spiky collagen scaffolding around a tumour, it could be an early warning sign that the cancer is likely to spread.

More importantly, if scientists develop drugs to prevent tumours from growing spikes, they may be able to trap cancer in one place, making it far easier to treat.

A Decade in the Making

This breakthrough, published in Nature Communications, is the result of nearly ten years of research.

Dr Oscar Maiques, from Barts Cancer Institute at Queen Mary University of London, stressed the importance of looking beyond just the tumour’s centre:

“When clinicians biopsy the tumour, our research shows that what’s on the outside of the tumour is just as important as what’s in the centre—as this holds crucial information about whether a cancer is likely to spread.”

With this new knowledge, scientists are moving closer to a world where cancer can be stopped before it has the chance to spread—a discovery that could save countless lives.