Scientists have discovered why breast cancer cells that have spread to the lungs may \u2018wake up\u2019 following years of sleep – forming incurable secondary tumours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Their research, out of The Institute of Cancer Research London (ICR)\u00a0reveals the mechanism that triggers this breast cancer ‘time bomb’ \u2013 and suggests a strategy to defuse it, the institution explained in a press release<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Patients with oestrogen receptor positive (ER+) breast cancer \u2013 the most common type \u2013 have a continued risk of their cancer recurring in another part of their body for many years or even decades after their original diagnosis and treatment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When breast cancer cells spread from the first cancer in the breast to other parts of the body it is called secondary or metastatic breast cancer and although treatable, it can\u2019t be cured.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The new research, published today in the journal Nature Cancer<\/em>,<\/a><\/em> showed how molecular changes within the lung that occur during ageing can support the growth of these secondary tumours.<\/p>\n\n\n The team at The Institute of Cancer Research, London, found that the PDGF-C protein, which is present in the lung, plays a key role in influencing whether inactive breast cancer cells stay asleep or \u2018wake up\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n They discovered that if the level of PDGF-C increases, which is more likely in an ageing lung or when its tissue becomes damaged or scarred, it can cause the dormant cancer cells to grow and develop into secondary breast cancer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The researchers then explored whether blocking PDGF-C activity could help prevent the \u2018reawakening\u2019 of these cells and the growth of secondary tumours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Working with mice with ER+ tumours, researchers at the ICR targeted PDGF-C signalling with an existing cancer growth blocker called imatinib, which is currently used to treat patients with chronic myeloid leukaemia.<\/p>\n\n\n Up to 80% of primary breast cancers are ER+ and there are around 44,000 cases in the UK each year. Dr Frances Turrell, postdoctoral training fellow\u00a0in the Division of Breast Cancer Research at ICR said: “Cancer cells can survive in distant organs for decades by hiding in a dormant state. We\u2019ve discovered how aging lung tissue can trigger these cancer cells to \u2018reawaken\u2019 and develop into tumours, and uncovered a potential strategy to \u2018defuse\u2019 these \u2018time bombs\u2019.\u00a0 We now plan to better unpick how patients might benefit from the existing drug imatinib, and in the long term aim to create more specific treatments\u00a0targeted at the \u2018reawakening\u2019 mechanism.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2583,"featured_media":492677,"template":"views\/single-selected.blade.php","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"advgb_blocks_editor_width":"","advgb_blocks_columns_visual_guide":""},"categories":[34665],"tags":[32312,7462,129875,36743,4261,129878,129880],"location":[55977],"internal_archives":[],"class_list":["post-439971","selected","type-selected","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health","tag-borstkanker","tag-cancer","tag-cancer-tratment","tag-diagnosis","tag-research","tag-the-institute-of-cancer-research-london","tag-time-bomb","location-united-kingdom"],"blocksy_meta":[],"acf":[],"featured_img":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/medical-tools.jpg","coauthors":[],"author_meta":{"author_link":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/author\/francesco-morelli\/","display_name":"Francesco Morelli"},"relative_dates":{"created":"Posted 3 years ago","modified":"Updated 3 years ago"},"absolute_dates":{"created":"Posted on March 14, 2023","modified":"Updated on March 14, 2023"},"absolute_dates_time":{"created":"Posted on March 14, 2023 12:54 pm","modified":"Updated on March 14, 2023 12:54 pm"},"featured_img_caption":"","tax_additional":{"category":{"linked":["Health<\/a>"],"unlinked":["Health<\/span>"],"slug":"category","name":"Categories"},"post_tag":{"linked":["Borstkanker<\/a>","cancer<\/a>","cancer tratment<\/a>","diagnosis<\/a>","research<\/a>","The Institute of Cancer Research London<\/a>","time bomb<\/a>"],"unlinked":["Borstkanker<\/span>","cancer<\/span>","cancer tratment<\/span>","diagnosis<\/span>","research<\/span>","The Institute of Cancer Research London<\/span>","time bomb<\/span>"],"slug":"post_tag","name":"Tags"},"language":{"linked":["EN<\/a>"],"unlinked":["EN<\/span>"],"slug":"language","name":"Tags"},"post_translations":{"linked":["pll_6410601888a58<\/a>"],"unlinked":["pll_6410601888a58<\/span>"],"slug":"post_translations","name":""},"location":{"linked":["United Kingdom<\/a>"],"unlinked":["United Kingdom<\/span>"],"slug":"location","name":"Locations"},"internal_archives":{"linked":[],"unlinked":[],"slug":"internal_archives","name":"Internal Archives"}},"series_order":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/selected\/439971","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/selected"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/selected"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2583"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/492677"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=439971"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=439971"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=439971"},{"taxonomy":"location","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/location?post=439971"},{"taxonomy":"internal_archives","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/internal_archives?post=439971"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}PDGF-C linked to \u2018rewakening\u2019 of cancer cells<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Blocking PDGF-C reduces tumour growth<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n