Scientists have long struggled to understand what drives a tumor to seed itself elsewhere in the body. New research implicates own pre-existing genetics.

Now researchers have shown for the first time that our own pre-existing genetics can promote metastasis.

A new study, published May 25 in Nature Medicine, suggests that differences in a single gene, carried within someone’s genome from birth, can alter progression of melanoma, a type of skin cancer. The researchers suspect these inherited variations may have the same effect on other types of cancer as well.

«Patients often ask ‘Why am I so unlucky? Why did my cancer spread?’ As doctors, we never had an answer,» says lead investigator Sohail Tavazoie, Leon Hess Professor and senior attending physician. «This research provides an explanation.»

The discovery may transform how scientists think about cancer metastasis, and lead to a better understanding patients’ risks in order to inform treatment decisions, Tavazoie says.

The mystery of metastasis

Metastasis occurs when cancer cells escape the original tissue to establish new tumors elsewhere, a phenomenon that leads to the majority of cancer deaths. Scientists have suspected that cancer cells, which initially emerge due to mutations inside normal cells, gain their travelling ability following further mutations. But after decades of searching, they have yet to find such a genetic change that could be proven to encourage metastasis.

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