success in cancer research
Substance in blood protects against metastases
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News in November that moves us: substance found against the formation of metastases+++
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November 2, 2022
Success in cancer research: substance found against metastases
Half a million people are diagnosed with cancer in Germany every year. Whether they can be cured depends on the type and stage of the cancer. If metastases have already formed, the prognosis for healing deteriorates dramatically in many cases. To prevent this, the tumor is surgically removed before it can spread. However, it is not uncommon for metastases to form. Doctors therefore assume that the primary tumor suppresses the growth of metastases. But how this works has not been clarified for a long time.
Researchers from the German Cancer Research Center and the Medical Faculty Mannheim have now been able to solve this puzzle. In one study, the messenger substance angiopoietin-like 4 (ANGPLT4) was examined. The messenger substance is not only carcinogenic, but also inhibits the growth of metastases, explains Hellmut Augustin, one of the lead authors of the study, in an interview with FOCUS online. The research team took a closer look at these properties.
It was already known that ANGPLT4 is formed by the cells of the primary tumor, promotes its growth and that the messenger substance occurs in the bloodstream split into an n-fragment and a c-fragment. The properties that promote tumor growth are in the c-fragment and the inhibitory properties are in the n-fragment, Augustin explains. While the c fragment is mainly found in the primary tumor, the n fragment is found almost exclusively in the blood circulation. The researchers were able to make very clear observations, particularly in people with black skin cancer: “If the concentration of the n-fragment in the blood decreased, then the survival prognosis for patients with metastases worsened,” explains the scientist. “So there’s pretty strong clinical evidence that this n-fragment is protective and keeps metastases at bay.”
A milestone in cancer research that gives hope and could improve the survival prognosis for cancer patients. But before a drug can possibly be developed from this, extremely complex and expensive clinical studies are required, which take years to complete. According to Augustin, some of these active ingredients that suppress metastasis have already failed in clinical studies.
Even more news
That was the news in October.
Sources used: Focus online