Body’s Mechanism to Control Spread of Cancer, Uncovered by Liverpool Scientists
January 11, 2007 by Gloria Gamat
Filed under Diseases & Conditions
The mechanism by which two blood molecules fight to keep cancer cells from spreading has been found by scientists at the University of Liverpool.
As in the cases of breast, lung and colorectal cancers, the growth of infected cells cannot be controlled which eventually lead to tumor development.
In the event that such tumors are detected early, they can still be surgically removed. But, once the cancer cells have invaded the bloods, the effectiveness of surgery is reduced.
A large protein – called MUC1 – serves as a protective shield that prevents the cancerous cells that entered the blood from developing into secondary tumors. Eventually, the cancerous cells are eventually destroyed by our immune system.
What if the protective shield is broken down? Then the cancer cells can spread throughout the body. University of Liverpool scientists have now discovered how that protective shield is broken down.
According to Dr Lu-Gang Yu, from the University of Liverpool’s School of Clinical Sciences and lead author of the study:
“MUC1 on the cell surface prevents the cancer cells from attaching to the blood vessel wall which causes secondary tumours. We have discovered that a small protein called galectin-3, attacks MUC1 and breaks up its protective shield, forcing large areas of the cancer cell to become exposed. The exposed areas of the cell allow the cancer to attach to the blood vessel wall. The cancer cells then eventually penetrate the blood wall to form tumours at secondary sites.
Therefore, galectin-3 could play a critical role and may actually have significant implications for future developments of drugs for cancer treatment.
This study has been published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry.
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