Harvard and Italian researchers have discovered a new role of glucose in cancer defense mechanism to circumvent therapies
Colorectal cancer uses hitherto unknown cells that form a sugar shield to protect themselves from free radicals, which damage the tumor and hinder its growth. These cells (unable to grow and multiply within the tumor mass) are characterized by a high absorption of glucosewhich therefore emerges for the first time with a new defensive role for tumors, which adds to its function of fuel to accelerate tumor growth, discovered in the past. the conclusion reached by the researchers of the Piedmontese Foundation for Cancer Research in a study conducted at the IRCCS Candiolo in Turin, in collaboration with the Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center of Harvard, and published in the scientific journal Nature Communications
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A tumor that is almost always preventable
Con over 43,700 new cases registered every yearcolorectal cancer is the second most frequent type of cancer in our country and also the second in the unlikely ranking of the most lethal, causing about 19 thousand deaths a year. Nine out of 10 cases could be avoided because there is an effective, free (in Italy) and completely painless method to eliminate pre-cancerous lesions before they turn into a real neoplasm: the test for the detection of occult blood in the faeces. Despite this, statistics indicate that colorectal cancer is an increasingly widespread cancer, even in the younger population (the age group mainly affected is between 60 and 75 years). And although 65% of patients are alive on average five years after diagnosis (largely thanks to early diagnosis), there is 20% of new cases which unfortunately are discovered already at an advanced stage, when most of the time the disease is not suitable for surgery that can potentially lead to recovery. especially in this context that many scientific researchers move: find new therapeutic solutions to stop or slow down the growth of metastases, or prevent it in the case of particularly aggressive tumors.
I study
Own a high consumption of glucose it has always been considered one of the distinctive features of the most aggressive cancer cells. Glucose, the simplest form of sugar, the primary source of energy for the body’s cells and closely linked to tumor proliferation and resistance to anticancer therapies. For decades, scientists have focused on the most active cancer cells, believed to be responsible for the spread of cancer thanks to the rapid metabolism of glucose. known that glucose metabolism allows cancer cells to grow and proliferate – he explains sebastian charles, formerly responsible for the laboratory of metabolic dynamics of cancer of the IRCCS of Candiolo, now transferred to the University of Barcelona -. Specifically, our research has identified a new type of defense cell to protect the tumor. These are non-proliferating cells, unable to grow and multiply within the neoplastic mass, but characterized by a high absorption of glucose. Unexpectedly, sugar in these cells is not converted into energy, as the main consumers of glucose in colon cancer, but used to neutralize free radicals which could damage the structure of the cell, compromising its survival.
Develop new treatments
Thanks to the new therapies that have arrived in recent years, the survival of patients with advanced colorectal cancer has more than doubled compared to twenty years ago and today reaches an average of 30 months. In fact, currently over 481 thousand people in our country live with a previous diagnosis of colorectal cancer. Defining the specific role of this new type of less active cell in the tumor could to pave the way for new and more effective anti-cancer therapies also combined with traditional drugs capable of extirpating not only the cells in course of multiplication, but the “reservoirs” of quiescent tumor cells, often responsible for the development of recurrent tumor forms and the generation of neoplasms resistant to traditional treatments, such as chemo and radiotherapy – he comments Anna Sapino, scientific and primary director of pathological anatomy of the IRCCS Candiolo -. Although these studies were conducted on experimental models, on tumor cells pre-washed from tumors removed from patients, and, therefore, we must be cautious – Sapino points out -, the results are potentially able to inspire new, more specific and effective therapies for this type of cancer. a new molecule capable of nullifying the defenses of the tumor is being studied.
April 12, 2022 (change April 13, 2022 | 11:00)
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