ARGENTINA: Starve a tumour before it spreads - new cancer research brings hope for new treatments

Record ID: 447424

  • Title: ARGENTINA: Starve a tumour before it spreads - new cancer research brings hope for new treatments
  • Date: 30th May 2013
  • Summary: VARIOUS OF SPECIFIC TYPES OF PROTEINS REFLECTED ON A SCREEN
  • Embargoed: 14th June 2013 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Argentina
  • Country: Argentina
  • Topics: Health
  • Reuters ID: LVA1TEYAQ4AMGRD9415FZPGO4I4C
  • Story Text: Dr. Gabriel Rabinovich, head of immunopathy at the National Scientific and Research Council of Buenos Aires, has been leading efforts to manipulate cell behaviour in the body. He and his team are building on discoveries made late last year that could lead to new treatments for cancer.
    In research with mouse models, the scientists found that a specific protein in breast cancer cells called Galectin-1 - also present in human breast cancer cells - played a key role in suppressing the mouse's immune response, rendering the animal's natural defence system unable to stop the cancer's spread. However, by manipulating the gene that expresses Galectin-1 they were able to block its production, thereby opening a window for the immune system to attack the tumour cells' support mechanism.
    "To generate new cells, the tumour needs oxygen and nutrients to be able to spread and to be able to metastasize. So I eliminate and block two crucial elements for the growth of the tumour, which are angiogenesis and tumour escape. Not only does it keep the tumour at bay, but the few cells that there are start to not be able to grow because they start to enter a phenomenon of cellular death or apoptosis," he said.
    The team's work has focused on the interaction between proteins and sugars called glycans. The sugars encode key information that make cells decide whether to live, die or grow.
    "We put emphasis on what is called the tumour microenvironment, in an attempt to block the blood vessels that are around, so the tumours will be left without blood vessels. On the other hand, it breaks the tumour's shields that prevent the immune system from killing it. And in this sense, one blocks both things to generate an enhancement of the immune response and to block vascularization," Rabinovich said.
    New discoveries by Rabinovich and other scientists could allow cells' behaviour to be manipulated by reshaping their surface glycans. Changing a cell's behaviour could, for example, force a growing tumour cell to die.
    "This is what our research consists of, trying to discover different sides that the tumours show to be able to say, 'Here is a place where you can kill me (the tumour).' And if we discover the protein that participates in two important events, we block it. Surely there will be a resistance mechanism or a protein that appears later, and well, we will have to block that, too," Rabinovich said.
    He added that he can envision future treatments that can halt tumour cells from migrating to other areas of the body.
    "Now personalized medicine is very fashionable. Let's say that one takes a given tumour and sees the escape mechanism it has at any given time. If at this time there is an escape mechanism I try to block it, then I see what happens within three to six months and I see if there is another escape mechanism. What I imagine in the future is a cocktail where one can block the different escape mechanisms at different moments of the disease," he said.
    The study by Rabinovich and his fellow scientists was published last October as the cover story in the Journal of Experimental Medicine.
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