IISc researchers have uncovered a potential reason why older ovarian cancer patients often face worse outcomes than younger patients. They have found that ovarian cancer cells can spread more easily in tissues that are senescent or aged because these tissues secrete a unique extracellular matrix that attracts the spreading cancer. They used a chemotherapy-induced senescent model to study this phenomenon. They first extracted tissues found in the lining of body cavities from mice models and exposed half of these tissues to chemotherapeutics that are used to treat cancer.
