Whether the cancer cells responsible for the growth of primary tumours are also able to re-initiate tumour growth after seeding to distant organs is unclear. The characterization of breast cancer cells with both of these attributes now identifies the functional and molecular determinants necessary to mediate primary tumour formation and re-initiation at the secondary site.
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Nabet, B., Minn, A. Linking primary and metastatic tumour re-initiation. Nat Cell Biol 17, 542–543 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/ncb3173
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/ncb3173
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