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Lung cancer Lung cancer can become resistant to chemotherapy
According to experts, lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in Europe. Especially with small cell lung carcinoma, the treatment options are very limited, especially as the tumors develop resistance to treatment with chemotherapy. Researchers have now deciphered the cause of this chemo-resistance.
Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death
Around one in four people in the European Union is dying of cancer. Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in Europe. Experts believe that about 85 percent of the diseases are related to tobacco use. Even the small cell lung carcinoma mainly meets - strong - smoker. The treatment of these tumors is particularly difficult because they can become resistant to chemotherapy. Researchers have now found the cause of this chemo-resistance.
Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in Europe. Especially with small cell lung carcinoma, the treatment options are very limited, especially as the tumors develop resistance to treatment with chemotherapy. Researchers have now deciphered the cause of this chemo-resistance. (Image: liukovmaksym / fotolia.com) Resistant to chemotherapy
Around 500,000 Germans are diagnosed with cancer every year. The consequences are usually surgery, radiation and / or chemotherapy. However, many cancer patients stop the therapy because of side effects.
And for some, treatment often fails. For example, in many cases with small cell lung carcinoma. This type of cancer often leads to resistance to chemotherapy.
Austrian scientists have now discovered why this is so.
Survival time is often only a few months
In the case of advanced small cell lung cancer (SCLC), which primarily affects very heavy smokers, about one year after the successful treatment with cytotoxic chemotherapy and radiation, relapse occurs with tumor recurrences that are resistant to further chemotherapy.
The survival time of those affected is then usually only a few months. So far, was completely unknown, which is responsible.
A team of researchers at the Medical University of Vienna (MedUni) under the direction of Gerhard Hamilton (Department of Surgery) has now discovered that circulating tumor cells join together and thus previously chemo-sensitive cells to chemoresistant cell associations.
Resistance of lung cancer cells to chemotherapy decrypted
Already last year, the Austrian scientists reported in the journal "Trends in Cancer" that they have deciphered the resistance of lung cancer cells to chemotherapeutics.
In a recent statement from the university, Hamilton describes the processes: "The circulating tumor cells join together to protect against chemotherapy as in a wagon castle and reduce the access of active ingredients."
These "aggregates" can be hundreds of thousands of cells, up to two millimeters in diameter and are up to eight times resistant to chemotherapy - on the one hand, because inside the aggregate hypoxia (lack of oxygen) forms and on the other hand, because these tumor cells reduce growth and thereby less sensitive.
The current results have now been published in the journal "Scientific Reports" of the Nature Publishing Group.
30 years of uncertainty
These findings were made possible by the worldwide first and permanent cultivation of circulating tumor cells from patients with advanced small cell lung cancer in Vienna.
The research group led by Hamilton and Robert Zeillinger (Molecular Oncology Group, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology of MedUni Vienna) and Maximilian Hochmair (Otto-Wagner Hospital) succeeded in developing seven cell lines from blood samples and then analyzing them in the laboratory.
"For the first time after 30 years of uncertainty in this area, it has been possible to decipher the causes of chemo-resistance," says Hamilton. The scientists now want to find out in further studies, how one can either prevent or destroy these cell aggregates.
A promising approach, according to the MedUni-Wien expert, is to break cell connections with the help of enzymes or inhibitors.
For the first time, lung cancer came first in cancer mortality in women
15 percent of people with lung tumors suffer from small cell lung cancer. At the time of the diagnosis, SCLC has mostly already metastasized and can no longer be operated - the prognosis of those affected is correspondingly poor.
The prospects are even worse when the resistance to chemotherapy develops. "The affected then usually only survive a few months," said Hamilton.
"That's alarming, given that lung cancer has increased dramatically as a cause of death among women over the past decade, plus 18 percent. In 2016, he replaced breast cancer as the highest-risk cancer in women with cancer. "
As an international research team reported at the beginning of the year, the lung cancer mortality rate among women in Germany has risen again.
"Young people, but especially young women who smoke, should be aware of the high risk of getting SCLC alongside other benign conditions," says Hamilton. (Ad)