XML Feed for RxPG News   Add RxPG News Headlines to My Yahoo!   Javascript Syndication for RxPG News

Research Health World General
 
  Home
 
 Latest Research
 Cancer
  Breast
  Skin
  Blood
  Prostate
  Liver
  Colon
  Thyroid
  Endometrial
  Brain
  Therapy
  Risk Factors
  Esophageal
  Bladder
  Lung
  Rectal Cancer
  Pancreatic Cancer
  Bone Cancer
  Cervical Cancer
  Testicular Cancer
  Gastric Cancer
  Ovarian Cancer
  Nerve Tissue
  Renal Cell Carcinoma
 Psychiatry
 Genetics
 Surgery
 Aging
 Ophthalmology
 Gynaecology
 Neurosciences
 Pharmacology
 Cardiology
 Obstetrics
 Infectious Diseases
 Respiratory Medicine
 Pathology
 Endocrinology
 Immunology
 Nephrology
 Gastroenterology
 Biotechnology
 Radiology
 Dermatology
 Microbiology
 Haematology
 Dental
 ENT
 Environment
 Embryology
 Orthopedics
 Metabolism
 Anaethesia
 Paediatrics
 Public Health
 Urology
 Musculoskeletal
 Clinical Trials
 Physiology
 Biochemistry
 Cytology
 Traumatology
 Rheumatology
 
 Medical News
 Health
 Opinion
 Healthcare
 Professionals
 Launch
 Awards & Prizes
 
 Careers
 Medical
 Nursing
 Dental
 
 Special Topics
 Euthanasia
 Ethics
 Evolution
 Odd Medical News
 Feature
 
 World News
 Tsunami
 Epidemics
 Climate
 Business
Search

Last Updated: Aug 19th, 2006 - 22:18:38

Cancer Channel
subscribe to Cancer newsletter

Latest Research : Cancer

   DISCUSS   |   EMAIL   |   PRINT
Metastatic cancer cells may move via wave stimulation
Apr 3, 2006, 07:18, Reviewed by: Dr. Priya Saxena

"These findings have broad implications toward the general understanding of how specific processes in the wave may affect such things as cell growth, cell movement and metastasis,"

 
Mayo Clinic researchers have uncovered a new cellular secret that may explain how certain cancers move and spread -- a feature of cancers that makes treatment especially difficult. If the mechanism that drives cancer movement -- also called metastasis -- can be understood well enough to manipulate it, new and better treatments can be developed for patients with metastatic cancers.

Significance of the Mayo Clinic Research

The Mayo researchers focused on odd protrusions observable by microscope on the surface of certain cancer cells: circular waves. Until now, no one has fully understood the function of these waves. The Mayo findings in the current edition of Cancer Research http://cancerres.aacrjournals.org/current.shtml are the first to show one role the waves play. They selectively round up activated growth-promoting proteins from the cell surface and take them to the interior of the cell. Under normal conditions, this process would help terminate signals from these growth-promoting proteins. However, in cancer cells it appears that either these waves may not function properly, or that the internalized proteins may remain active longer, which allows them to "instruct" a cell to acquire cancerous traits such as excessive growth and invasive movement that constitute metastasis. These waves are important for helping to keep these cancer-growth commands at bay.

Studying human pancreatic tumor cells, the Mayo researchers found that the waves store up to half the activated Epidermal Growth Factor Receptors (EGFR) from the surface of the cell and take this cache to the interior of the cells. This is important for understanding cancer because aberrant activation of EGFR can promote the excessive growth typical of cancers.

"These findings have broad implications toward the general understanding of how specific processes in the wave may affect such things as cell growth, cell movement and metastasis," explains Mark McNiven, Ph.D., the lead researcher on the Mayo Clinic team. "Our work provides new insights into a novel mechanism by which cells can internalize growth factor information. Understanding this process is the first step toward one day halting it, preventing it or reversing it therapeutically."

Why Movement Matters

Cell growth and movement are vital topics in cancer research because cancer is a disease of uncontrolled cell growth in which the normal balance between growth promotion and growth inhibition is disrupted. Epidermal Growth Factor (EGF) and the EGFR to which it homes and docks are a hot topic in cancer research because EGF promotes growth through binding and activating its receptor and certain tumors exhibit elevated levels of EGFR. In addition, activated EGFR have been implicated in the development and spread of several human cancers, including cancers of the colon, ovary, breast and lung.

Wave Basics

Waves are circular ruffled surface structures on the exterior plasma membrane of a cell that can be observed through a conventional light microscope. They form in response to stimulation from EGF and exist for 10 to 20 minutes before disappearing. Waves intrigue researchers because wave-based internalization of activated EGFR to the interior of the cell was a previously unknown mechanism. The wave pathway appears to be a parallel pathway vital for transmitting and regulating normal cellular communication. Waves occur less often in certain tumor cells, indicating they may play a role in modulating or terminating cancer-promoting signals. Persistent cancer-promoting signals in cells lacking waves could subsequently allow them to be more motile and invasive. Waves also are important for cell movement -- at least in normal cells -- by actively reorganizing some of the cellular infrastructure at the leading edge of a cell allowing the cell to form a pliable footlike structure (lamellipodia). Previous work by this Mayo Clinic team was the first to correlate the formation of lamellipodia with wave-induced reorganization within a cell.
 

- Current edition of Cancer Research
 

www.mayo.edu

 
Subscribe to Cancer Newsletter
E-mail Address:

 

Others on the Mayo team included James Orth, Ph.D.; Eugene W. Krueger; and Shaun Weller. Their work was supported by Mayo Clinic and the National Institutes of Health.

Related Cancer News

Gene Expression Profiling Not Quite Perfected in Predicting Lung Cancer Prognosis
Breast cancer chemotherapy may deterioration in cognitive function
I-ELCAP study: Lung cancer can be detected early with annual low-dose CT screening
Genomic signatures to guide the use of chemotherapeutics
Elderly Breast Cancer Patients May Be Under-Diagnosed And Under-Treated
Listening to the sound of skin cancer
Tissue Geometry Plays Crucial Role in Breast Cell Invasion
Regulatory Approval for New Cotara(R) Brain Cancer Clinical Trial
CDK2/FOXO1 as drug target to Prevent Tumors
Key to lung cancer chemotherapy resistance revealed


For any corrections of factual information, to contact the editors or to send any medical news or health news press releases, use feedback form

Top of Page

 

© Copyright 2004 onwards by RxPG Medical Solutions Private Limited
Contact Us