How, and Why, Do Some Bacteria Facilitate Cancer Metastasis?
When you ask a physician or researcher how bacteria cause and/or promote cancer usually the only answer you get is "inflammation" and some hand waiving. It sort of makes sense. Lots of new and different stuff is going on, lots of new and different cells are running all around and lots of old cells are busily dividing and multiplying - surely a recipe for an accident.
But what if the bacteria are actively promoting the metastasis? That's the finding in "Bacteria Peptidoglycan Promoted Breast Cancer Cell Invasiveness and Adhesiveness by Targeting Toll-Like Receptor 2 in the Cancer Cells". Why, in the "what's in it for them" sense, would bacteria promote something that kills their host? Something to ponder over the weekend.
