Protein Discovered That Could Help Prevent Metastasis
There is already a protein that is capable of stopping the spread of breast cancer cells; now the scientist’s believe the very same therapy could lead to the process of preventing or limiting the spread of the disease. They believe that metastasis can be prevented by this newly discovered protein.
Andrew Craig, lead researcher and a professor in Queen’s Department of Biochemistry and Cancer Research Institute explains that cancer researchers want to design new therapeutic strategies in which the metastasis (spreading stage of cancer) can be blocked.
If the primary tumor is the only tumor that needs to be treated then the patients stand a much better chance of survival, confirmed Dr. Craig.
Dr. Craig and his team identified the new regulatory protein which inhibits metastasis by removing and breaking down an invasive enzyme on the surface of cancer cells. In case if this enzyme remains unchecked, it degrades and modifies surrounding tissues, resulting in metastasis.
Dr. Craig hopes that his team’s findings may help develop more targeted therapies that have a specific inhibitory function on this enzyme that is implicated in certain metastatic cancers.
The standard treatments can be used to counteract the invasive nature of this particular enzyme but they can also destroy other enzymes that are very important for normal physiological function of the body.
The researchers examined a network of proteins that are responsible for controlling the shape of cancer cells. They focused specifically on parts of the cell that protrude into surrounding body tissues, allowing the cancer cell to degrade surrounding tissue barriers.
During an immune response as part of a healthy physiological process that allows cells to move through body tissues normal cells also produce similar protrusions. But during metastasis these normally healthy mechanisms are co-opted by cancer cells, allowing the cancer to intrude through the boundaries of tissue and colonize distant tissues. This ultimately results in the death of the cancer patient.
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