Scientists discovered that intestine cancercells Can be transformed into skin or muscle cells, which allows them to spread more aggressively. This breakthrough offers hope to treat the growing rates of the disease, especially among young people.
A study by cancer Research UK Scotland Center and the University of Edinburgh revealed that a critical step in aggressive intestine cancer implies cells losing their original identity, a process known as cell plasticity. Researchers have discovered that the disease spreads when colic cells are starting to look like squamous cells, which form the skin or muscle cells.
Intestine cancer is the second most frequent cancer cause of cancer in the United Kingdom. He claims the life of 16,800 people in Great Britain, including 1,700 in Scotland, each year and is increasingly diagnosed among young people internationally.
A recent study by the American Cancer Society published in Lancet’s oncology have shown that early intestine cancer rates in adults aged 25 to 49 increase in 27 of the 50 countries studied and increase more quickly in young women in Scotland and England than in young men.
Scotland is disproportionately affected with around 4,000 people diagnosed each year overall, according to Cancer Research UK.
The latest study revealed that intestinal cancer cells can adapt to resemble skin cells, which can tolerate much more severe daily conditions because of their role and their position protecting the exterior of the body, as well as muscle cells, both more “robust”.
Cellular plasticity has proven to be an important element in the metastases of intestine cancer – when it spreads and becomes more difficult to treat.
Researchers hope that identifying this and preventing it could help make current treatments more effective and prevent the disease from spreading.
The study also examined a embarrassed Called ATRX which was already associated with aggressive forms of intestine cancer.
Using mice and samples of human tissue, the researchers found that the loss of this gene has led to an increase in metastatic tumors that spread from the intestine to the liver, lymph nodes and diaphragm.
The key to the capacity of these cells to propagate is that they lose their identity of colic cells and resembled squamous cells that form the skin or cells that resemble the muscle.
The article, “the loss of colonic fidelity allows plasticity and multiligne metastases”, is published in Nature. Research received funding from the Medical Research Council and the European Research Council.
Dr. Kevin Myant, of the University of Edinburgh University and Cancer Institute and Cancer Research UK Scotland Center, said: “With more and more young people diagnosed with intestine cancer, it is vital that we understand how this disease develops and develops.
“Our research has discovered that a way in which the aggressive intestine cancer is capable of spreading is” zérose “to look like skin or muscle cells rather than cancer cells in the intestine.
“This observation will allow us to develop new treatments to prevent these cells from changing and prevent the spread of cancer, when it becomes much more difficult to treat.”
The main researcher, Dr. Patrizia Cammareri, said: “Skin cells can tolerate daily conditions much more difficult than other types of cells – due to their role and their position protecting the exterior of the body – so this can be a strategy to help cancer cells in the intestine and allow them to spread around the body.
“Metastases are a main cause of death of cancer and a key objective of cancer research, so this observation could be essential to stop the progression of aggressive cancer and provide better results for patients.”
Cancer Research Uk Director of Research, Dr Catherine Elliott, said: “Diagnose and treat cancer early and prevent spread to other parts of the body offers the best chances of a positive result for patients so that research like this, which could lead to new ways to stop this spread, offers great hope.
“Intestine cancer is increasingly worrying on a global scale, which is why we have invested 5.5 million pounds sterling at the CRC -Stars initiative (colorectal cancer – stratification of therapies through adaptive responses) jointly directed by our Cancer Research UK Scotland Institute, which will bring together more than 40 experts in intestinal cancer, including researchers This project, to find new ways to tackle this disease. ”
