New clues to cancer communication
27 Apr 2012 by Evoluted New Media
There is growing interest in the idea that the body’s immune system might be trained to fight cancer, and new research suggests intercepting communication signals sent around the body by cancer cells could help prevent the disease growing.
Research from St George’s University of London found that these communication signals might contain pieces of RNA – snippets of genetic information that instruct cells to form. These instructions can be intercepted and modified by chemotherapy to prevent cancer cells growing.
It was previously thought that angiogenesis – the development of new blood vessels – is sparked by chemical messengers called cytokines, but the research showed that tumours may also send out little packets of RNA which, like cytokines, instruct blood vessels to form and feed the tumour.
“This study tells us a bit more about how cancer forms and provides a further avenue to explore,” said Dr Wai Liu, lead researcher of the paper published in British Journal of Cancer.
The team also investigated the effects of two frequently prescribed cancer drugs on angiogenesis in human lung cells. They cultivated RNA messages sent by untreated cancer cells, as well as those messages sent by cancer cells treated with either cyclophosphamide or oxaliplatin.
In lung cells treated with oxaliplatin, the RNA and cytokine messages produced by the tumours were no longer capable of influencing vessels to grow. Those treated with cyclophosphamide were still able to instruct vessels to feed the tumour via these chemical messages.
“Although these are early findings and more research is needed, they add to the gorwing interest in training the body’s own immune system to fight cancer and will hopefully help to for the foundation for future medications that exploit this,” said Liu.
Supernatants derived from chemotherapy-treated cancer cell lines can modify angiogenesis
