Scientists Find Why Ovarian Cancer Spreads and How to Stop It

When a patient died from ovarian cancer just three months after a clear screening, Dr. Kaname Uno refused to accept that medicine had no better answers. His quest to understand why this deadly disease spreads so fast just led to a discovery that could change everything.

Researchers at Nagoya University in Japan found that ovarian cancer cells don't work alone. They recruit mesothelial cells, which normally line the abdomen, to help them invade tissues throughout the body.

The cancer cells fuse with these helper cells to form hybrid clusters that float in abdominal fluid. About 60 percent of cancer spheres found in patients contained these merged cells working together.

Once fused, the cancer cells release a protein called TGF-β1 that transforms the mesothelial cells into tiny cutting machines. These cells develop spike-like structures that slice through tissue, creating pathways for cancer to spread.

This teamwork explains why ovarian cancer moves so differently from other cancers. While breast and lung cancer travel through blood vessels, ovarian cancer avoids the bloodstream entirely and hitchhikes on these manipulated cells instead.

The discovery matters because ovarian cancer kills about 12,450 American women each year. It's the sixth-leading cause of cancer death among women, despite being only the 15th most common diagnosis.

The disease is so deadly because symptoms are subtle and often dismissed until the cancer has already spread. Once that happens, the five-year survival rate drops from 50 percent to just 32 percent.

The Bright Side

This breakthrough opens doors that didn't exist before. Current chemotherapy targets cancer cells but completely ignores the mesothelial cells that help them spread.

Future treatments could block the TGF-β1 protein or prevent the two cell types from fusing in the first place. Doctors might also monitor these hybrid clusters in abdominal fluid to predict how aggressive a patient's cancer will be and whether treatment is working.

The research team's findings, published in Science Advances, represent years of work driven by one doctor's determination to find answers after losing a patient. What started as grief transformed into a scientific breakthrough that could help save thousands of women.

Cases and deaths from ovarian cancer are already declining thanks to advances in screening and treatment. This new understanding of how the disease spreads could accelerate that progress even faster.