In patients with gastric cancer, the production of a protein that inhibits the growth and spread of cancer cells is impaired, researchers from the University of Liverpool (UK) found.
Stomach cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in the world. However, the new discovery of researchers from Liverpool gives hope that effective therapies for the disease will be developed in the future. It would be based on restoring the function of a protein called TGFßig-h3.
This protein is produced by myofibroblasts – cells that have the features of both smooth muscle cells and connective tissue, and constitute a kind of support (carrier) for cancer cells. It is the presence of, among others myofibroblasts and blood vessels allows the cancer to survive and nourish it. These types of cells can constitute up to 70-90 percent. total tumor mass.
Myofibroblasts produce and release many substances into the environment that can affect the behavior of cancer – either inhibit or stimulate it, leading to the growth and spread of cancer cells throughout the body. Liverpool researchers have found that in patients with advanced stages of gastric cancer, myofibroblasts slow the release of the TGFßig-h3 protein, which normally inhibits the growth and spread of the disease.
Research manager – prof. Andrea Varro explains: Usually, this protein acts as an anchor that connects cancer cells to proteins within the cancer, preventing the former from migrating beyond their regions of origin. This allows the use of therapy aimed exactly at the affected area. However, in advanced stages of the disease, protein production is reduced, which increases the risk of the cancer spreading to other parts of the body.
We hope that our work will contribute to the development of new treatments based on restoring the full functionality of the TGFßig-h3 protein. And that they will help save the lives of patients with this often fatal disease, concludes Varro. (PAP)
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