Driver of aggressive tumours discovered, pancreas first
Baku, March 6, AZERTAC
Italian researchers working in Texas have discovered the driver of aggressive tumours like that of the pancreas, saying that the key is in how cells transform themselves, according to ANSA.
A key mechanism underlying the aggressiveness of tumors has been discovered, and in particular of pancreatic cancer, which is currently a particularly difficult form to treat.
The 'driver' of aggressiveness lies in the transformation that tumor cells can undergo, which, by completely changing 'appearance' and transitioning from the status of epithelial cells to mesenchymal cells, make the tumor 'nastier' and capable of proliferating quickly, as happens in the case of pancreatic cancer.
The study could open the door to new treatments capable of selectively targeting cells with mesenchymal characteristics and thus depriving the tumor of its main driver.
The discovery, published in the journal Nature, is down to Italian researchers from the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, USA, from the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, and their teachers, Giampaolo Tortora and Alessandro Sgambato.
Researchers from the IRCCS San Raffaele in Milan also took part in the study.
Tumor cells, the study highlighted, can therefore transition from the state of epithelial cells (present in internal organs, body cavities but also on the surface of the skin) to mesenchymal cells (primitive, non-specialized cells that can transform into different types of cells in the body), capable of escaping various types of control, and it is precisely this transformation that makes the tumor more aggressive.
The epithelial-mesenchymal transition is typical of many tumors, but is more pronounced in pancreatic tumors.
An important discovery that has potential practical implications, says Tortora, director of the Comprehensive Cancer Center of Fondazione Policlinico Gemelli Irccs.
"For example, the future identification of some biomarkers that identify this plasticity of the tumor cell, to exploit it in diagnostic-therapeutic terms, so as to be able to intervene promptly, for example by modifying the therapy.
What we are learning will almost certainly have implications for many other tumors in which this transformation is a way acquired by the tumor to escape control and therapies".
This study, adds Sgambato, vice dean of the Faculty of Medicine and Surgery of the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, "is very significant and offers us the opportunity to look with new eyes at a very aggressive pathology such as pancreatic cancer, paving the way for the development of new diagnostic-therapeutic approaches useful not only for this but also for other tumor pathologies".
Until now, Luigi Perelli, the first author of the study, explained to ANSA, "it was not clear whether the transition from epithelial to mesenchymal provided advantages to the tumor or not. In the new research we discovered that not only is it important, but in the case of pancreatic cancer it plays a key role in its aggressiveness".
Furthermore, the transition from epithelial to mesenchymal has several consequences: on the one hand, it gives rise to tumor cells with a greater capacity for diffusion, on the other it generates instability in the genome of tumor cells which translates into a greater heterogeneity of the cells that make up the tumor.
The result is a greater ability of the tumor to adapt to unfavorable conditions and therapies.
As if that were not enough, "this transformation, which in other tumors occurs in an advanced stage, in pancreatic cancer occurs almost immediately.
This explains the extreme difficulty in identifying an effective treatment for this tumor", adds Perelli.
"Our work is fundamental for clarifying the evolutionary models underlying the aggressive clinical behavior of pancreatic cancer", comments the coordinator of the work, Giannicola Genovese.
These findings, he concludes, "add another layer to our understanding of tumor heterogeneity and the complexity of the cancer microenvironment, providing crucial new information for the treatment of this devastating disease."
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