2024-01-16 05:23:45
A mechanism of reactive astrocyte formation caused by excessive absorption of acetic acid derived from tumor cells in the tumor microenvironment. (provided by the Basic Research Institute)/News 1
A domestic research team has developed a technology to find the optimal location for brain tumor surgery using reactive astrocyte imaging.
The Institute for Basic Science (IBS) announced on the 16th that the research team of Director Lee Chang-jun of the Cognition and Sociality Research Center, along with Professor Mi-jin Yoon’s team from the Department of Nuclear Medicine at Severance Hospital and Professors Seok-gu Kang and Jong-hee Jang of Neurosurgery, succeeded in developing this technology.
The research team proposed a technology to image the increase in acetic acid, a metabolic mediator of reactive astrocytes expressed in the tumor periphery of brain tumor patients.
Subsequently, this technology revealed the energy metabolism mechanism in the tumor microenvironment, confirming the possibility of new brain tumor treatment.
Glioblastoma has the characteristic of forming a tumor microenvironment with various types of cells, including reactive astrocytes, in the tumor and its periphery.
The various elements that make up the tumor microenvironment are known to have a significant impact on tumor progression, tumor cell metastasis, and treatment response and effectiveness through interactions.
The research team used positron emission tomography using carbon-11-acetic acid as a technology that can image even the tumor microenvironment of brain tumors.
As a result of imaging and analyzing the tumor microenvironment using a tumor tissue transplant animal model derived from a glioblastoma patient, it was found that acetic acid was mostly absorbed by the tumor microenvironment formed around the tumor microenvironment, especially reactive astrocytes, rather than tumor cells.
In order to continue dividing, tumor cells undergo a rapid energy metabolism process using glucose, which is their basic energy source, almost exclusively. Acetic acid was produced and excreted as a by-product of this metabolic process.
The acetic acid produced in this way was absorbed by monocarboxylic acid transporter 1, which is specifically expressed in astrocytes, and the excessively absorbed acetic acid induced reactive astrocyte formation.
On the other hand, when reactive astrocytosis or MCT1 expression was suppressed, acetic acid metabolism in the tumor microenvironment was restored to normal.
The researchers found that surgical removal of reactive astrocytes and tumor stem cells, which play an important role in tumor progression and metastasis, is the key to successful treatment.
From the left, co-corresponding author Changjun Lee, director of IBS, and professors Mijin Yoon, Seokgu Kang, and Jonghee Jang of Severance Hospital. /News 1
Director Chang-Jun Lee said, “Understanding the mechanism of reactive astrocyte formation that occurs in various brain lesions will accelerate the overcoming of brain diseases.” He added, “Through this study, we have newly established that reactive astrocyte formation that occurs in the tumor microenvironment is induced as a result of energy metabolism.” “He said.
He continued, “Follow-up research is needed to examine how tumor cells, reactive astrocytes, tumor stem cells, and surrounding nerve cells that make up the tumor microenvironment influence each other.”
The results of this study were published online in ‘Neuro-Oncology’, a world-renowned neuro-oncology journal, on the 12th of last month.
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