Study of embryonic stem cells gives clues to cancer spread
Scientists at the University of Manchester have made a breakthrough in understanding the mechanism behind the spread of cancers in the body, which can lead to the development of new ways of fighting the disease.
They studied embryonic stem (ES) cells to discern how some tumours migrate to other parts of the body, making the treatment of cancer difficult.
Dr. Chris Ward of the Faculty of Medical and Human Sciences says that embryonic stem cells spontaneously change in a manner similar to the epithelial-mesenchymal transition, a result of advancement of tumour that causes cells not to bind each other.
“We have shown that ES cells spontaneously change in a manner that is remarkably similar to the epithelial-mesenchymal transition. They lose the proteins that cells use to bind to each other and have other protein alterations that are characteristic of spreading cancer cells,” he said.
“Since ES cells can be grown in the laboratory where they keep the characteristics of the cells in the early embryo they can be studied in detail. By studying these ES cells we have already identified a novel component of this transition process. We expect the use of ES cells will lead to the identification of other unknown factors involved in cancer cell spread, hopefully leading to new avenues for cancer therapy,” he added.
Ward, whose study has been published in the journal Molecular Biology of the Cell, says that the new findings may lead to new ways of beating the disease.
“It is the ability of tumours to invade into other tissues and spread around the body that makes them so dangerous. Finding out more about the mechanism that controls the spread of cancer cells will help us find new treatments that can prevent tumours spreading and make them essentially harmless,” he said.
The researchers used embryonic stem cells to study how E-cadherin protein stopped cells from migrating during normal growth. They found that the protein not only helped cells stick together, but also blocked the action of another protein known to increase the mobility of cells.
Experts at the the Association for International Cancer Research (AICR), which funded the study, believe that the dual function of E-cadherin opens up the potential for new targets to prevent tumours from spreading.
“Dr Ward’s work will open the door to a detailed dissection of the process that makes cancers spread around the body,” Derek Napier, Chief Executive of AICR, said.
“Scientific research occasionally makes sudden leaps forward when a new way of investigating something is discovered. We predict that this will lead to a huge growth in our understanding of cancer spread and the development on several new approaches to stopping it,” he added.
Source : www.newkerala.com
