On Jan. 21, 2019, researchers at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center announced finding a way to essentially smother cancer cells in their sleep, preventing them from ever waking up and forming deadly metastatic tumors.

The paper, published in Nature Cell Biology, was the culmination of more than four years’ work and proposes both a paradigm shift in how we view dormant disseminated tumor cells – and a new therapy to potentially slay this sleeping giant.