Once breast cancer spreads to bone, treatment becomes nearly impossible. Breast cancer cells can lie dormant in the bone, often undetectable and able to escape typical treatments. Unfortunately, these dormant cells can awaken at any time to generate tumors. All of this combined makes it difficult to understand how the cells proliferate and how to stop them from doing so.
However, researchers have now identified a pair of proteins believed to be critical for spreading, or metastasizing, breast cancer to bone.
One protein, known as CXCL5, was discovered to be key for signaling growth of cancer cells once it binds to its receptor, called CXCR2. Published in Nature Communications, the study shows that these two proteins cause breast cancer cells -- including those that lie dormant -- to rapidly reproduce and spread throughout the bone and marrow.
'
"These breast cancer in-bone tumors are like a new disease, different from the original tumor, and therefore present their own unique sets of challenges. And even though bone metastases are incurable, they also are common. About 73 percent of women who die of breast cancer have bone metastasis," said the corresponding author of the study. "Our team at the Harper Cancer Research Institute developed a model to study this critical moment -- when breast cancer cells travel to the bone and begin to proliferate, or colonize, to form a tumor -- so that we can get a better grasp on how to prevent and eliminate these tumors."
With a new model developed, the research team was able to identify factors that could either activate breast cancer proliferation or inhibit proliferation and induce cancer cell dormancy in the bone. Profiling soluble factors from conditioned media identifies the chemokine CXCL5 as a candidate to induce metastatic colonization. The protein CXCL5 was thus identified as a proliferative factor. Additional studies using CXCL5 recombinant protein suggest that CXCL5 is sufficient to promote breast cancer cell proliferation and colonization in bone, while inhibition of its receptor CXCR2 with an antagonist blocks proliferation of metastatic cancer cells.
"Before our study, the idea that CXCL5 and CXCR2 played an essential role in this critical step in breast cancer colonization of bone had not been explored. Now we have an opportunity to analyze how inhibiting this cellular process could be a target for future therapies to treat breast cancer metastasis or other cancers that spread to bone," said the senior author.
The researchers confirmed that CXCL5 and CXCR2 were present in a human bone sample from a patient with breast cancer metastasized to bone.
https://news.nd.edu/news/researchers-discover-critical-process-for-how-breast-cancer-spreads-in-bones/
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-019-12108-6
http://sciencemission.com/site/index.php?page=news&type=view&id=publications%2Fthe-cxcl5-cxcr2-axis-is&filter=22
Latest News
Wiring of the human neocortex
By newseditor
Posted 24 Apr
Abusive drugs hijack natura…
By newseditor
Posted 23 Apr
Mechanism of action of the…
By newseditor
Posted 23 Apr
Role of fat in rare neurolo…
By newseditor
Posted 23 Apr
How protein synthesis in de…
By newseditor
Posted 22 Apr
Other Top Stories
A protein that promotes brain metastasis identified!
Read more
Hypoxic memory promotes tumor spread!
Read more
Glutamine-blocking drug slows tumor growth and strengthens anti-tum…
Read more
Long non-coding RNA in childhood brain cancer!
Read more
Astronauts prep may help multisystem toxicity in cancer patients
Read more
Protocols
A programmable targeted pro…
By newseditor
Posted 23 Apr
MemPrep, a new technology f…
By newseditor
Posted 08 Apr
A tangible method to assess…
By newseditor
Posted 08 Apr
Stem cell-derived vessels-o…
By newseditor
Posted 06 Apr
Single-cell biclustering fo…
By newseditor
Posted 01 Apr
Publications
Harnessing gastrointestinal…
By newseditor
Posted 24 Apr
Sex-specific modulation of…
By newseditor
Posted 24 Apr
Exploiting pancreatic cance…
By newseditor
Posted 23 Apr
Structure of antiviral drug…
By newseditor
Posted 23 Apr
Type-I-interferon-responsiv…
By newseditor
Posted 23 Apr
Presentations
Hydrogels in Drug Delivery
By newseditor
Posted 12 Apr
Lipids
By newseditor
Posted 31 Dec
Cell biology of carbohydrat…
By newseditor
Posted 29 Nov
RNA interference (RNAi)
By newseditor
Posted 23 Oct
RNA structure and functions
By newseditor
Posted 19 Oct
Posters
A chemical biology/modular…
By newseditor
Posted 22 Aug
Single-molecule covalent ma…
By newseditor
Posted 04 Jul
ASCO-2020-HEALTH SERVICES R…
By newseditor
Posted 23 Mar
ASCO-2020-HEAD AND NECK CANCER
By newseditor
Posted 23 Mar
ASCO-2020-GENITOURINARY CAN…
By newseditor
Posted 23 Mar