Researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine have found a potential target to stop the most deadly part of breast-cancer-metastasis.
Researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine have found a potential target to stop the most deadly part of breast-cancer - metastasis.
In the study, Carol Otey, Ph.D. and UNC colleagues found that the ability of breast cancer cells to migrate could be reduced by knocking down the expression of a protein called palladin.
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"This study shows that palladin may play an important role in the metastasis of breast cancer cells as they move out of the tumour and into the blood vessels and lymphatics to spread throughout the body," said Otey, associate professor of cell and molecular physiology.
For the study, the researchers grew breast cancer cells in an 'invasion chamber,' in which human tumour cells are placed in a plastic well that is inserted into a larger well.
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However, first the cells have to migrate through a filter coated with a layer of artificial connective tissue.
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Otey said that most women would never die from breast cancer if the cancer cells couldn't metastasize to the brain and bone marrow.
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"Now that we see palladin is expressed mostly in invasive cells, it raises the question as to whether it might be useful as a prognostic marker.
"Maybe someday doctors could test for the presence of palladin to identify patients who have the most aggressive tumours, then give those patients personalized, more aggressive treatment," Otey added.
The study appeared in the Nov. 3, 2008, online edition of the journal Oncogene.
Source-ANI
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