Mg-based materials diminish tumor spreading and cancer metastases

Cancer metastases are the most common causes of cancer-related deaths. The formation of secondary tumors at different sites in the human body can impair multiple organ function and dramatically decrease the survival of the patients. In this stage, it is difficulty to treat tumor growth and spreading due to arising therapy resistances. Therefore, it is important to prevent cancer metastases and to increase subsequent cancer therapy success. Cancer metastases are conventionally treated with radiation or chemotherapy. However, these treatments elicit lots of side effects, wherefore novel local treatment approaches are currently discussed. Recent studies already showed anticancer activity of specially designed degradable magnesium (Mg) alloys by reducing the cancer cell proliferation. In this work, we investigated the impact of these Mg-based materials on different steps of the metastatic cascade including cancer cell migration, invasion, and cancer-induced angiogenesis. Both, Mg and Mg-6Ag reduced cell migration and invasion of osteosarcoma cells in coculture with fibroblasts. Furthermore, the Mgbased materials used in this study diminished the cancer-induced angiogenesis. Endothelial cells incubated with conditioned media obtained from these Mg and Mg-6Ag showed a reduced cell layer permeability, a reduced proliferation and inhibited cell migration. The tube formation as a last step of angiogenesis was stimulated with the presence of Mg under normoxia and diminished under hypoxia.

Automated summary

Cancer metastases are the leading cause of cancer-related deaths, and traditional treatment methods often come with side effects. Recent studies have shown that specially designed degradable magnesium alloys can reduce cancer cell proliferation and inhibit different steps of cancer metastasis, including cell migration, invasion, and angiogenesis.