Duke Scientists Identify New Way To Block Blood Vessels That Feed Cancer Growth

Scientists from Duke University Medical Center have identified the "master switch" that cancer cells use to dispatch protective messages to nearby blood vessels, fortifying the vessels against deadly onslaughts of radiation. The messages enable blood vessels to survive and ultimately nourish any remaining cancer cells that escape toxic radiation therapy. Radiation biologists from the Duke Comprehensive Cancer Center identified the master switch as a protein called "Hypoxia Inducible Factor" (HIF-1) that turns on production of these protective messages.