The sooner cancer is spotted, the easier it is to treat. Once it spreads to another part of the body and becomes secondary cancer, survival rates are much lower. Stopping cancer spreading is key to helping more people live for longer, but there is still so much we don’t understand about how secondary cancer grows. Our Curestarters are helping researchers around the world investigate this problem so that one day no life is cut short from cancer.
What is secondary cancer?
Secondary cancer refers to cancer that has moved – or spread – to a different part of the body than where it started. For example, if someone is originally diagnosed with breast cancer that then spreads to their bones, the original cancer in the breast tissue is the primary cancer, and the cancer in the bones is the secondary cancer.
Secondary cancer is also sometimes referred to as metastatic cancer because the process of the disease spreading is called metastasis. Cancer can spread to many different places in the body, but the most common are the lungs, liver, bone, brain, skin, and lymph nodes.
How does secondary cancer develop?
Secondary cancer develops by cells in the primary cancer breaking away and travelling through the blood system of lymphatic system. During their journey the cancer cells need to avoid our immune system and manage to set up home in the new location. Finding out how cancer cells are able to do this, and how to stop it is a key area of research.
Is secondary cancer the same as metastatic cancer?
Yes. It can be confusing that there are so many different terms to describe cancer but metastatic cancer is the same as secondary cancer – they both mean cancer that has spread from the original site to another part of the body.
If you have ever hear the term Stage 4 or Stage IV cancer then that is also the same as secondary cancer. Cancer generally has four stages and stage 4 is the most advanced, when it has spread to another part of the body.
Cancer is much easier to treat before it spreads so better understanding the process of metastasis and how to prevent it would help to save thousands of lives worldwide. Thanks to Curestarters, Dr Inbal Wortzel in the USA is investigating what makes it easier for some cancers to spread to other organs to hopefully find new ways to stop metastasis.
Can secondary cancer be cured or treated?
The earlier cancer is detected, the easier it is to treat. Once cancer spreads it is much harder to cure and generally treatments can only control the growth of the cancer and alleviate symptoms.
Everyone is different and treatment depends on the size of the cancer, where it is, your health and your symptoms. Secondary cancer therapy options include:
- Chemotherapy - this common cancer treatment uses strong drugs to damage and kill cancer cells.
- Radiotherapy – a cancer therapy that uses ionising radiation to target cancer cells.
- Targeted therapy – a group of treatments that disrupt the way cancer cells grow, divide and spread.
- Immunotherapy – there are lots of different types of cancer immunotherapy but they all help our immune system to detect and destroy cancer
What are we doing to find new cures for secondary cancers?
As an international cancer research charity we are funding incredible scientists all around the world who are striving to reach a day when no life is cut short by cancer. Finding ways to stop secondary cancer is a critical part of this mission and lots of our projects are currently investigating this.
For example, understanding exactly how melanoma spreads is the focus of Professor Victoria Sanz-Moreno’s innovative project in London. Using human melanoma cells grown in 3D tissue structures in the lab, the team hope to discover weaknesses that could be exploited in new cures. In this video you can hear more from Professor Sanz-Moreno on her work, her hopes for the future, and what inspired her to pursue cancer research.
Any support that you are able to offer could play a crucial role in unlocking new cures for secondary cancer.
Thanks to our Curestarters, we hope to fund more research like Professor Zippo's in Italy, exploring how breast cancer cells are able to survive in other organs. He hopes to find clues towards new ways to stop breast cancer spreading.
Dr Ana Cuenda is exploring how healthy cells can sometimes help bowel cancer cells to spread. This exciting research in Spain is shining a light on how cells talk to one another about metastasis and whether they can be silenced.
Professor Roberta Tasso in Italy is leading a very creative project developing “smart bombs” to deliver drugs specifically to secondary cancers. She believes artificially created nanoparticles can transport chemotherapy more directly to cancer even after it has spread.
And there is still a lot we don’t understand about why cancer spreads in some patients and not in others. Dr Hector Peinado and his team in Spain are investigating a link between obesity and breast cancer’s ability to spread. They hope to develop methods to identify patients at higher risk of their cancer coming back and new ways to halt cancer spread.
Your secondary cancer FAQs:
What is the difference between primary and secondary cancer?
Primary cancer is in the part of the body where cancer first develops. Sometimes cancer cells successfully break away from the primary site, travel to other parts of the body and establish secondary cancer in a different part of the body.
If breast cancer spreads from the primary site (the breast) to the bones then it is still breast cancer but it is called secondary breast cancer or metastatic breast cancer.
What causes cancer to spread to other parts of the body?
We don’t fully understand exactly how cancer is able to spread to other parts of the body. We do know that it can travel the same way other molecules travel around your body – in your blood or in your lymph nodes. But researchers are still answering questions about why some cancer cells are able to do this, what helps them establish secondary cancers and how we can stop this happening.
What are the symptoms of secondary cancer?
The symptoms of secondary cancer vary depending where in the body the cancer has spread to and can differ from person to person. We recommend that you speak to your oncology team if you are worried about secondary cancer or you develop any symptoms that are new, unexplained and persistent.
How is secondary cancer diagnosed?
Sometimes cancer has already spread by the time it is detected during initial testing, so it is possible to be diagnosed with secondary cancer when you first receive a cancer diagnosis.
Other patients sometimes develop secondary cancer after having treatment for their primary cancer. During follow-ups healthcare professionals check for signs of the cancer coming back or having spread.
There is no one test to diagnose if you have cancer. Instead doctors will use one or more of the following tests to get a better understanding of what is happening in your body:
- Lab tests including blood and urine tests
- Diagnostic imaging including mammogram, MRI scan and ultrasound
- Endoscopic exams using a camera on a long, thin tube
- Genetic tests to look at specific genes in your cells
- Tumour biopsies that involve taking a sample from a tumour and examining it under a microscope
Is secondary cancer always terminal?
Secondary cancer is much harder to treat than primary cancer. In most cases secondary cancer cannot be cured – but treatments can help to control it. This is why it is crucial that we support researchers to better understand secondary cancer and how to prevent it.
What are the survival rates for secondary cancer?
Survival rates vary for different types of secondary cancer.
In the UK almost all women with stage 1 breast cancer will survive for 5 years or more after their diagnosis. For stage 4 – when the cancer has spread – only around 1 in 4 women will survive for 5 years or more.
For lung cancer almost 65% of people in England will survive for 5 years or more after a stage 1 cancer diagnosis. However, only around 5% of people with stage 4 lung cancer will survive their cancer for 5 years or more.
How is Worldwide Cancer Research helping to tackle secondary cancer?
Thanks to our Curestarters we are supporting international cancer research to find ways to prevent, diagnose and treat secondary cancer.
When cancer spreads it often reaches the brain, where it is particularly hard to treat. Dr Manuel Valiente in Spain has discovered a potential new drug that could make radiotherapy work better for patients whose cancer has spread to the brain. This game-changing breakthrough will hopefully lead to a way to help in cases where the cancer is resistant to other treatment options, helping more people live for longer.
In Germany an exciting discovery about how to turn off cancer’s energy supply could be a way to stop it spreading. Dr Michaela Frye has been studying head and neck cancer as this has a high tendency to spread. She hopes to be able to find existing drugs that could target the cancer vulnerability she revealed in order to improve survival rates for this devastating disease.
Donate now & become a Curestarter
Be part of a united effort to stop lives being cut short by cancer.
