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November 22, 2018 – 2:31 PM AMT
PanARMENIAN.Net – Melanoma Cancerous tumors of the skin become larger and more likely to cause metastases due to interactions between a pair of molecules, according to experiments in mice and human cells. The findings could restore the potential of a type of cancer treatment abandoned previously in clinical trials. The findings also implicate a molecule already linked to obesity and dementia as a potential cause of metastasis or spread of cancer cells in other parts of the body, says Medical Xpress.
Melanoma is responsible for about 1% of skin cancers, but is responsible for the vast majority of skin cancer deaths, according to the American Cancer Society. There are few treatments to prevent melanoma metastases.
A research team led by Associate Professor Beate Heissig of the Institute of Medical Sciences at the University of Tokyo has studied the tissue-type plasminogen activator (tPA) for more than ten years. TPA is a protease, a small molecule capable of cutting proteins. TPA binds to a larger protein in the membrane barrier of animal cells, called low density lipoprotein receptor (LRP1) protein 1.
The Heissig research team proposes to block the action of tPA by promoting metastasis by preventing it from connecting to LRP1. Mice without LRP1 had smaller tumors, even when the researchers provided additional tPA.
Other studies have associated LRP1 with chronic diseases such as diabetes, obesity, and Alzheimer's disease.
"It is surprising that LRP1 also regulates the growth and spread of cancer.It is normally a receptor for fat molecules," Heissig said.
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