Sarcomas are cancerous tumors found, for example, in bone, muscle or fatty tissue. It is a rare type of cancer seen in only one percent of cancer patients. It is complex and difficult to treat.
However, a new study may have found a new treatment that can help the sickest sarcoma patients.
“We have learned that sarcoma patients whose cancer cells strongly express the cep135 protein are worse off. But inhibiting a gene called plk1 also inhibits the growth of sarcoma cells, suggesting that we can target treatment to the sickest sarcoma patients. “, says Associate Professor Morten Scheibye-Knudsen of the Center for Healthy Aging in the Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, who is responsible for the new study.
Methods for identifying the prognosis of patients with sarcoma are already available, as well as different forms of treatment. But the new study has identified a new method.
“It’s a new way to layer and maybe a new and better way to treat sarcoma. And the introduction of another method is always good news for patients. Because no two cancers are the same. Ideally, treatment should always be tailored to the individual patient,” emphasizes Morten Scheibye-Knudsen.
He hopes that other researchers with access to the necessary testing facilities will study his results in more detail and eventually design a new treatment. If the method proves successful, he thinks a new treatment might be available to patients in five to ten years.
Gray hair, wrinkles and loss of fatty tissue at an early age
Morten Scheibye-Knudsen and his colleagues began by studying patients with the rare neurological disorders Werner syndrome, Nijmegen rupture syndrome and ataxia-telangiectasia syndrome.
These patients show symptoms of early aging such as gray hair, wrinkles and loss of fatty tissue — et they have a high risk of developing cancer at an early age.
“Age-related diseases, such as cancer, are one of my main areas of interest as a researcher at the Center for Healthy Aging. As we age, many things happen to the body, and determining causality can be difficult. But in people with, for example, Werner syndrome, it is easier to see which genes are responsible for which processes. It gives us a molecular grip, so to speak,” says Morten Scheibye-Knudsen.
In order to establish why these patients develop cancer at an early age, the researchers compared gene expressions in the three disorders. Here they worked with the company Insilico Medicine, whose large Pandaomics platform has helped identify genetic mutations in thousands of different disorders. It turned out that cep135 is a common denominator for cancer genes in all three diseases.
“This led us to study the gene expressions of various cancers, and we learned that cep135 is associated with high mortality in ia sarcoma, but also in bladder cancer. Of particular interest was the sarcoma, as many patients with Werner syndrome develop sarcoma,” says Morten Scheibye-Knudsen.
Finally, researchers sought to find ways to inhibit sarcoma. Cep135 is not a useful target because it is a so-called structural protein, which is difficult to target. Instead, the researchers learned that by inhibiting the plk1 gene, they were able to target sarcoma.
“The study indicates that we can use genetic diseases that exhibit accelerated aging to identify new treatment targets. In this study, we studied cancer, but the method can in principle be used for all age-related diseases such as dementia, cardiovascular diseases and others. “, says Morten Scheibye-Knudsen.
What are sarcomas?
Sarcomas are cancerous tumors found in bone, muscle or fatty tissue, among other places. There are two main types: bone sarcoma and soft tissue sarcoma (muscle, fatty tissue, connective tissue, blood vessels and neurilema).
Sarcoma affects 1% of cancer patients. In Denmark, approximately 45 people are diagnosed with bone sarcoma and 220 with soft tissue sarcoma each year. Adults diagnosed with bone sarcoma have a five-year survival rate of 60%, while adults diagnosed with bone sarcoma have a five-year survival rate of 50-70%.