Brain metastasis is an important cause of mortality in patients with cancer and represents the majority of all intracranial tumors. A key step during the metastatic journey of the cancer cell to the brain is the invasion through the blood–brain barrier (BBB). Nevertheless, the molecular mechanisms that govern this process remain unknown. The BBB has been blamed for limiting the access of therapeutic drugs to the brain, which provides a safe haven for cancer cells in the brain and confers poor prognosis for the patient. Here, we explore the genes that control the transmigration of metastatic cancer cells across the BBB, offering new targets for the development of gene and cell therapies against brain metastases.

脑转移是癌症患者死亡的重要原因，占所有颅内肿瘤的大部分。癌细胞向大脑转移过程中的一个关键步骤是通过血脑屏障 (BBB) 侵入。然而，控制这一过程的分子机制仍然未知。BBB 被指责限制了治疗药物进入大脑，这为大脑中的癌细胞提供了一个安全的避风港，并导致患者预后不良。在这里，我们探索了控制转移性癌细胞跨 BBB 迁移的基因，为开发针对脑转移的基因和细胞疗法提供了新的靶点。