Research offers new possibilities to fight the spread of breast cancer
Recent findings published in Nature Cell Biology reveal new possibilities to fight the spread of breast cancer.
Recent findings published in Nature Cell Biology reveal new possibilities to fight the spread of breast cancer.
“This new research has yielded that rare thing – a clue from the cancer itself about new possibilities to fight its spread. Our goal is to work out how we can mimic this 'freezing' of secondary cancers, so that one day we might influence all breast cancers to keep their secondary tumours in check,” said Dr Christine Chaffer at the Garvan Institute for Medical Research, Australia.
Dr Chaffer and her team revealed a previously unseen ‘ecosystem’ in advanced breast cancer, in which the primary breast tumour emits signals that halt the growth of secondary tumours elsewhere in the body. The research found that, in mice, primary breast tumours can influence 'breakaway cells' that have left the primary tumour to establish new tumours throughout the body. The tumour sends messages via the immune system through an inflammatory response that is provoked by the tumour. Immune cells then spread through the body and locate the sites where breakaway cells have settled in preparation for the launch of new secondary tumours and freeze them, stopping their growth.
“When these breakaway cells are settling, before they have established a new tumour, they are particularly vulnerable because they are in an intermediate state, and their identity isn't very solid. It's at this point that the immune system can intervene,” said Dr Chaffer.
In a group of 215 breast cancer patients at high risk of developing metastasis, the team found that patients with high levels of the same type of immune response had better overall survival compared to those with low levels. “When you have a primary tumour, there are untold numbers of breakaway cells that will travel throughout the body – but not all of them will form tumours,” said Dr Chaffer. “By some estimates less than 0.02 per cent of breakaway cells will form secondary tumours – so we have a real opportunity to bring this number down to zero.”
The researchers want to elucidate exactly what the tumour is releasing to activate the immune response, and how immune cells are targeting the secondary sites. “In principle, all of these steps present therapeutic opportunities that could be used to stop a cancer from developing any further,” Dr Chaffer said.