Tough surroundings make cancer tougher for immune cells to fight.

The physical properties of the cells and proteins surrounding a tumor play a crucial role in determining the spread of the cancer. How they change cancer cells to suppress the immune response against them is an interesting question addressed in a recent study from Liu et al., which describes how increased stiffness of the tissue around the tumor decreases the amount of a protein—cyclic GMP-AMP synthase—in cancer cells, ultimately blocking the immune response to cancer.