Roads for metastases

Cancer cells use the "tricks" of neurons to spread in the body

Tatiana Matveeva, "Scientific Russia"

Scientists from Rockefeller University (USA) have discovered that breast and lung tumors can use the signaling pathway of nerve cells to spread to other organs and form secondary foci. In an article published in Nature, the researchers describe how these cancer cells attract nearby blood vessels to gain access to a nerve signal, which ultimately allows them to escape from the primary tumor into the bloodstream, the press service of the university reports. 

In the photo: a mouse lung with metastases (highlighted in green) formed by cancer cells that spread from primary breast cancer.

Cancerous tumors – regardless of the size, shape and place of formation – can deceive our body for their own benefit, posing as healthy cells or "stealing" them. A classic example of the "pirate" tactics of a tumor is its ability to attract nearby blood vessels and connect to a central source of oxygen and nutrients in the body. A few years ago, scientists noticed that tumors that eventually metastasize usually attract more vessels to themselves than those that do not. 

Scientists have suggested that the cells of the inner lining of blood vessels send a signal that gives the cancer cells in the primary tumor the command to metastasize. The study showed that this signal is Slit2, a protein that in the nervous system usually helps nerve cells move when a new neural network is formed. 

How were breast and lung cancer cells able to get blood vessel cells to create and release Slit2 – and just enough so that the cells could get into the bloodstream and spread through the body? A laboratory study with mice showed that tumor cells first activate the silenced DNA to produce double–stranded RNA, which, in turn, acts as a signal triggering the endothelial protein Slit2 and - further – the movement of cells from the primary tumor into the blood.

The Slit2 protein can potentially serve as a target for diagnosis. By the activity of the protein, doctors can, for example, determine that the cancer has left the primary tumor and has begun to form metastases. Also, the press release notes, there is a chance that scientists will be able to develop a new drug that inhibits metastasis by blocking the work of the Slit2 protein.

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