Cancer Research Newly developed drug successfully prevents metastasis formation

Breakthrough in cancer research

Metastasis is the major risk to those with many cancers, including breast cancer. Metastasis accounts for more than 90 percent of cancer deaths. According to the current state of medicine, they are considered almost incurable. A Swiss research team recently discovered a drug that prevents tumor cells from forming metastases.

Researchers at the University and the University Hospital Basel recently discovered in a study a new drug that can suppress metastasis in cancer. The research results were published by the team in the renowned journal "Cell".

The greatest danger in most cancers is the formation of metastases. A new drug may prevent cancer cells from forming such daughter tumors. (Image: peterschreiber.media/fotolia.com)

What are metastases and how do they arise??

Normally, every cell in the body belongs to a specific cell structure, for example, a heart cell remains a heart cell and a liver cell remains a liver cell. However, tumor cells can exceed these limits by detaching cells from the cell structure and migrating in the blood or lymphatics. So they get into other tissue associations, where they settle in the worst case and daughter tumors form - the so-called metastases.

Reduce the deadly potential of cancer

The Swiss research team pursued an interdisciplinary approach in which microbiologists, physicians and bioinformaticians worked hand in hand. They were able to identify a substance that prevents cancer cell aggregates from forming further progeny tumors. "We did not want to follow the standard approach and look for drugs that kill cancer cells," explains Professor Dr. Nicola Aceto in a press release on the study results. Rather, the study is about identifying drugs that will knock out the cell clusters responsible for metastasis.

Cancer cells on the move

Targets of the new drug are the circulating tumor cells (CTCs), which split off from one tumor and can form new tumors in other tissues. According to the researchers, the CTCs could travel as single cells or as cell aggregates in the bloodstream and lymphatic system. It is primarily the circulating tumor cell assemblies (CTC clusters) responsible for metastasis, the cancer experts report.

When CTC clusters form a daughter tumor?

As reported by the Swiss research group, CTC clustering also causes a chemical change in the circulating cancer cells. This activates or deactivates certain genes in the cancer cells, thereby giving the cancer cells the characteristics of embryonic stem cells. Only by clustering would they have the ability to grow uncontrollably and produce different types of tissue. Individual circulating tumor cells do not have this capability.

Meeting ban on cancer cells

The researchers have documented in their study that these chemical changes can be completely reversed. They discovered an active ingredient that causes the circulating cell aggregates to separate back into single cells, thereby also losing the above-mentioned properties. In total, the team looked for 2486 drugs approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). In fact, the researchers found inhibitors that cause a resolution of the CTC clusters and thus prevent metastasis. In the next step, the new treatment will be tested in a clinical trial in breast cancer patients. (Vb)