Shaping cancer cells is the reason for metastases

Pancreatic cancer: Transient tumor cells are more dangerous

Pancreatic cancer (pancreatic cancer) often causes metastases in the lungs or liver. German scientists have now recognized the reason for this relationship. The adaptability of cancer cells plays a crucial role in metastasis. The transformation of tumor cells is a particular danger: they break away from the cancerous tissue, travel with the blood to other organs and adapt to the new conditions.

A team of researchers from the Technical University of Munich recently presented the latest findings on cancer. The goal of the scientists was the formation of metastases. Researchers have discovered particularly dangerous cancer cells, which have a better ability to transform their shape and can thus spread more effectively in other organs. The results of the study were published in the journal "Developmental Cell".

Shape-transforming tumor cells cause faster metastases

As reported by the experts, the tumor cells are bound together in a cobblestone compound. When metastases are formed, cancer cells must first become detached from this composite. Researchers say some cells do better than others. For example, the study showed how some cancer cells could change their shape, properties, and metabolism to break with the cellular structure of the tumor.

Adaptive Determines Metastases

Altered tumor cells shrink and elongate and may thus use blood as a means of transport to reach other organs. Once there, according to Munich scientists, a change is necessary to form metastases. In this case, the ability to make contact with the cells of the field is critical, so that the cancer cell can become "sedentary".

The liver is particularly threatened by tumor cells morphing

"We were able to show the liver depends on the plasticity of the tumor cell," reports Dr. Maximilian Reichert, head of research group and first author of the # 39 study in a press release on the new findings.If the cancer cells could not come into contact with other cells, they would be pbadively rinsed with the bloodstream further into the lungs, where they end up being For patients, it is a more favorable evolution since lung tumors can be better controlled, according to the expert

Molecular glue makes tumor cells more dangerous

A particular protein called E-cadherin is responsible for mutability, this protein acts as an adhesive that helps some tumor cells to attach better to new ones. In a mouse model, experts have been able to show that the absence of protein means that pancreatic tumor cells can only enter the lungs and not "dock" in the liver. However, if the protein was present, the cancer cells could also attack the liver.

Cancer cells program themselves?

The research team found that the process of cellular change was controlled by an epigenetic program. In the process, some sections of the DNA are read more or less strongly, thus initiating the decisive change. The decoding of such programs is now at the center of future investigations

Target for new therapies against cancer

The team around Maximilian Reichert is now starting a new research to determine if such epigenetic programs can be inhibited or if the point of attack for the treatments can be used. "The more we understand the formation of metastases, the sooner we can influence them," summarizes Reichert. This is especially important in the case of pancreatic cancer because almost all people affected die from metastases. (Vb)