The spread of cancer, i.e. the detachment of cancer cells from the parent tumor and its journey through the body, is the greatest risk in cancer. American scientists not only determined how this process works, but also created an artificial protein that blocks the spread of cancer.
One of the most dangerous stages of cancer is metastasis. This is where tumor cells break away from the tumor and enter other organs or lymph nodes through the bloodstream to form new tumors. The process of metastasis, also known as tumor dissemination or metastasis, means that the chance of saving the affected person decreases rapidly – as a rule, metastasis means little chance for him to survive the next 5 years (which is the basic indicator for cancer). They fall on average by 40-60 percent. compared to people with only one tumor.
Doctors and biochemists have long intrigued the process of metastasis because it is the key to fighting cancer. If the process of detachment of cells from the parent tumor can be stopped, it will be easier to destroy the tumor, not just prolong the patient’s life. Since the early 2000s, research has been carried out on detecting a signal pathway – that is, a chain of proteins and peptides that instructs cells to detach from the parent tumor and then block it.
Scientists – biochemists from the Stanford School of Engineering, working under the supervision of prof. Jennifer Cochran and prof. Amato Giaccia, made a breakthrough – they genetically engineered a protein that blocks the cancer cell signaling pathway in many known types of cancer and prevents the spread of cells from the parent tumor.
Scientists detected two proteins, labeled Axl and Gas6. Axl looks like sparse bristles on the surface of a cancer cell. Gas6 is just a kind of cellular email that transmits a signal. When two Gas6 molecules bind to two Axl molecules, the cancer cell detaches itself from the tumor and travels through the bloodstream to create new tumors and a deadly threat. Scientists decided to break this chain. They managed to create a harmless and non-functional version of the Axl protein. Once introduced into the bloodstream, they affinity bind to Gas6, blocking them before they reach the surface of the real Axl proteins in the cancer cells.
Subsequently, the newly produced protein had to be tested for effectiveness. The therapy included mice with an extremely aggressive type of ovarian and breast cancer. In mice with aggressive breast cancer, 78 percent were found. fewer cases of detachment of cancer cells from the tumor. However, these cells were immature or unstable, and there was little chance that they would be able to produce any tumor. It was similar in the case of mice with aggressive ovarian cancer, where such cells were already 90 percent. less and also damaged or immature.
There are several years of clinical trials ahead of the researchers and the creation of a mass production process for the artificial Axl protein. Clinical tests must also be carried out on volunteers, but there will certainly be plenty of them – cancer patients already apply to the program.
Tekst: Marek Mejssner