Researchers from the Stanford University School of Medicine have identified a protein that may play a role in the spread of tumors under low-oxygen environments: lysyl oxidase (LOX).

In a study of patients with breast and head&neck tumors, they observed that patients whose tumors made high levels of LOX were more likely to have cancers that spread and to die of the disease. Animal tests also revealed that in mice where LOX production was inhibited, the tumors in the animals were also less likely to spread. These data therefore suggest that blocking LOX in patients with hypoxic tumors has potential as a new cancer therapy.

A therapy that specifically treats tumors producing LOX would be particularly exciting given that these are often among the deadliest cancers. [The lead researcher] said trials in people could start as soon as three years from now.

Other experiments are also underway to determine the relationship between LOX-production and hypoxia in other types of tumors including lung and colon.