zoom on this mechanism increasing the risk of metastases

Cancer can develop throughout the body. Scientists speak of the metastatic stage when cancer cells break away from the initial tumor to form a new one elsewhere in the body. The National Cancer Institute states that in the case of breast cancer, the organs most frequently affected by metastases are the liver, lungs and bones. A team of Swiss and Finnish researchers has made new discoveries about the development of these cancer cells. In The Journal of Clinical Investigationthey indicate that metastases are linked to the combination of immune cells and acute inflammation.

Breast cancer metastases are linked to acute inflammation and a certain type of white blood cell

This inflammation is localized in and around the primary tumor. Scientists from the University of Fribourg, the University of Helsinki, the University of Lausanne and the Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics at the Vaudois University Hospital (CHUV) have noticed that a certain type of white blood cell is involved in this phenomenon: granulocytes. Their presence is often linked to acute inflammation and facilitates the development of metastases. “In some way, cancer cells push granulocytes at the tumor site to produce inflammatory mediators, interleukin 6 and oncostatin.specifies Professor Curzio Rüegg, of the University of Fribourg. It is these two mediators which, secondly, transform breast cancer cells into cancer stem cells with high metastatic capacity..”

A potential treatment to suppress metastases in breast cancer

The team of researchers discovered a process that blocks these two mediators and thus reduces the risk of metastases. By inhibiting interleukin 6 and oncostatin produced by granulocytes, the formation of cancer stem cells and metastases can be stopped. “Although the mechanism was discovered using laboratory models, the team also demonstrated similar events in human breast cancer.it is explained in a press release.

Breast cancer and metastases: an opportunity to develop new therapies

In addition, there are drugs that inhibit interleukin 6. They are currently used to treat people with chronic inflammatory diseases, but they could be preventive treatments against metastatic breast cancer in at-risk patients. These could be more easily identified because scientists have discovered a specific genetic signature. It makes it possible to identify patients at increased risk of metastases linked to this process associating inflammation and white blood cells. “This work opens up real opportunities to develop new treatments for patients at high risk of metastases.”conclude the researchers.