Cancer cells may not travel alone during metastasis.

Cancer cells may not travel alone during metastasis.

Metastasis, the spread of cancer from its original site, is associated with the great majority of cancer deaths.  Researchers have shown, in a mouse model, that when pancreatic cancer cells spread, they appear to be accompanied by non-cancerous cells from the same organ.  The non-cancer cells may help make the environment suitable for the cancer to grow in the new location.