A group led by Professor Yasuyuki Fujita of the Institute for Genetic Disease Control, Hokkaido University has clarified the metabolic changes that occur in the very early stages of canceration for the first time in the world.
Cancer begins with a mutation in one cell.So far, Professor Fujita's group has found out the fact that "many of the newly generated mutant cells are eliminated from the body as a result of competing with surrounding cells."However, it was not clear by what mechanism the mutant cells were eliminated.
Therefore, the group analyzed the metabolic pathways such as nutrients and energy of the mutant cells surrounded by normal cells, and two metabolic changes, "decrease in mitochondrial function" and "enhancement of glycolytic pathway", occur in the mutant cells. I found that.This was caused by the influence of normal cells existing around the mutant cells, and it was found that the surrounding normal cells play an important role in the elimination of the mutant cells.
This research reveals a part of the "ability to destroy cancer cells" that normal cells have.These results clarify the phenomenon that occurs in the very early stages of cancer, which has been a black box so far, and are expected to lead to the development of the world's first "cancer preventive drug".
Paper information: [Nature Cell Biology] Cell competition with normal epithelial cells promotes apical extrusion of transformed cells through metabolic changes.
