2023-06-26 09:05:01
Researchers in Vienna have uncovered a mechanism by which cancer cells that are spreading in the body permanently confuse the cells in their new environment. The scientists present their new findings on the formation of metastases in neuroblastoma, which occurs primarily in infants and small children, in the journal “Nature Communications”. It is hoped that the confusion signals from the tumor cells could be suppressed with medication.
St. Anna researchers find possible new treatment approach
Despite the fact that the treatment options for neuroblastoma are constantly improving, it can happen that the tumors, which occur primarily in the child’s nervous system, form offshoots in other parts of the body. In many cases in which the disease returns after therapy, the metastases originate in the bone marrow. A team led by Sabine Taschner-Mandl from the St. Anna Children’s Cancer Research Center (CCRI) and Nikolaus Fortelny from the University of Salzburg examined such cell samples for the first time using modern analysis methods.
The starting point was the observation that the tumor cells seemed to “manipulate their environment” so that “they support their growth instead of fighting them,” said Taschner-Mandl in a CCRI broadcast. Finding out how different types of metastasizing cancer cells connect to healthy cells in the bone marrow was one of the aims of the investigation.
Cut main lines of communication
The analyses, which were also carried out using computer simulations, showed “that certain cells, so-called monocytes, react particularly strongly to the unwanted invaders. In the course of this they stimulate growth processes and release cytokines that stimulate tumor growth,” said Irfete Fetahu, Co-first author of the publication.
Although the monocytes would be activated as intended in the presence of the neuroblastoma cells, they do not carry out their actual reaction to such a signal in the form of an attack on the migrating cells. Fetahu: “The monocytes receive conflicting messages and, so to speak, no longer know exactly what to do.”
The scientists’ idea is now to cut off the main communication channels between cancer and healthy bone marrow cells as far as possible: This could be achieved with drugs that inhibit the two most important proteins that the cell types use to exchange information. Such agents are already being tested on other types of tumors. The new strategy could help to keep the confused and altered monocytes away from the bad influence in their environment and make it difficult for the metastases to establish themselves in the bone marrow.
Service: http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-39210-0
(APA/red, Photo: APA/ROLAND SCHLAGER)
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