A recent study has identified a gene that can influence the spread of breast cancer cells to brain. The team of researchers analysed a number of tissue samples and used advanced genetic techniques in order to try and identify the genetic code and determine how the cancer cells were capable of breaching the brain’s vast network of defences. The study was conducted on mice 3 genes were identified as responsible for the spread.
The gene that was identified to assist in penetrating the brains defences, ST6GALNAC5, supposedly allows cancerous cells to ‘stick’ to the blood vessels of the brain, eventually allowing them to access the tissue. These blood vessels are the brains primary means of defence, and normally control what foreign substances gain access to the brain, whether they are drugs or viruses. Once the cells breach this defence, the cancer can rapidly develop within the tissue. The researchers also found that when ST6GALNAC5 was absent, the cells failed to spread to the brain.
Two other genes, COX2 and HBEGF, were also shown to assist breast cancer cells to invade other areas of the body, including the lungs. They are also believed to have an influence on the spread of secondary tumours.
Professor Sir David Lane, one of the Cancer Research UK’s chief scientists said ‘the genes they've identified could become good targets for new drugs as well as some existing medicines, so they offer hope of being able to block this particular form of metastasis.’
Although this study is still within its early stages and was conducted in mice, it still could have heavy implications on the way we treat cancer in the future.
References:Gene allows cancer to enter brain, retrieved 19/05/2009http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8033630.stm
