Ovarian cancer also tends to undergo metastasis, the process in which cancer cells break away from the original tumor and form new growths elsewhere. They then exposed cancer cells to that material without transferring the surviving cells themselves. Nearby cancer cells responded by becoming less tightly attached to one another, an important early step in metastasis. In their preclinical experiments, consuming amounts comparable to the high levels found in sugary drinks also encouraged cancer cells to spread. Cholesterol Loss Helps Cancer Cells EscapeThe researchers also investigated what fructose was doing inside nearby tumor cells.