Stress could be unifying theme in cancer spread Previous studies have shown that stress is a risk factor for cancer, and for example, that psychological stress is linked to breast cancer aggressiveness. And researchers already know that ATF3 is activated when all types of cells experience stressful conditions that threaten their ability to maintain a constant internal environment (homeostasis). Under normal circumstances, triggering ATF3 protects the body from harm by causing normal cells to commit suicide if there is a risk they have become permanently damaged by the stressful conditions (eg lack of oxygen or irradiation). When cancer cells first arise, the immune system recognizes them as foreign agents and enlists immune cells to attack them. In the early stages of cancer development this works. But then things go wrong: one reason is cancer cells start to send signals to immune cells that cause them to misbehave in a way that helps the tumor grow. In the new study, researchers at Ohio State University show that cancer cells are able to switch on ATF3 in immune cells that have been summoned to tumor sites. The result is ATF3 then causes the immune cells to malfunction and allow cancer cells to escape from the tumor and spread to other parts of the body. Senior author Tsonwin Hai, a professor of molecular and cellular biochemistry at Ohio, says: If your body does not help cancer cells, they cannot spread as far. So really, the rest of the cells in the body help cancer cells to move, to set up shop at distant sites. And one of the unifying themes here is stress.
Posted on: Sun, 20 Oct 2013 12:16:41 +0000
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