Edgy and nervous.
L1CAM protein (brown in the upper panel) resides in cells poised to break with most of the cancer (cells with b-catenin are brown in the lower panel) and invade other tissues.
A. Ben-Ze'ev and N. Gavert / Weizmann Institute of Science
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA - Some cancers keep them- same as compact tumors while others aren 't content until they have spread throughout the body. What makes more aggressive than the other? One explanation, according to a new study, is the presence of a protein normally present in neurons. Experts say the work may offer a new target in the fight against colon and other cancers.
As cells become cancerous, they produce more of a protein called b-catenin. The protein acts as a molecular switch, turning specific genes and off. Reasoning that b-catenin could turn on other genes that help cancer along, such as those that make the spread, biologists cancer Avri Ben-Ze'ev and Nancy Gavert of the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel and his colleagues are looking for these genes.
Ben-Ze'ev colleagues examined the effect of extinguishing b-catenin on other, other functions within cells. In the current study, they scanned some of the genes involved in these processes and found a gene called L1CAM, the protein is well known for nerve cells son together. To determine whether L1CAM has a role in cancer, the researchers studied for its protein in normal cells of the skin, non-cancerous cells in culture, and aggressive melanomas from 11 patients. While normal cells contained no protein L1CAM, many cancers harbored. When the team blocked the activity of L1CAM in cultured cells of human colon cancer cell growth has slowed dramatically.
The role of L1CAM in cancer seems to make more aggressive disease. When the team has transformed the gene into a set of colon cancer cells and injecting them into the mouse spleen, the cells distributed in the livers of animals; cells that do not make protein L1CAM stayed put. The protein appears to help cancer spread in people too: 50% of patients with colon cancer with high amounts of L1CAM protein in their tumors had cancer spread to 5 years of treatment, compared with only 14% of people with low levels, researchers reported here since December 13 at a meeting of the American Society for Cell Biology.
L1CAM could prove to be a prognostic factor for cancer development and a potential target for treatment, says cancer biologist Michael Shtutman of Ordway Research Institute in Albany, New York. Furthermore, it could be a useful tool to help researchers understand how cancers invade tissues and metastasize, he said.
Related site
- information on colon cancer from the National Cancer Institute
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