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Researchers have discovered what happens in the bodies of cancer patients just before the metastases

A Tel Aviv University study was able to identify changes in lung tissue that indicate preparation for the absorption of breast cancer cells and the formation of metastases.

The discovery may help develop preventative care that will save the lives of millions of cancer patients worldwide

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• cancer

• breast cancer

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health

Tuesday, 03 August 2021, 13:14 Updated: 13:44

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A new study from Tel Aviv University has revealed changes in healthy tissue that indicate preparation for the absorption of cancerous metastases.

These findings are of great importance because they may allow for diagnosis and preventive treatment before the onset of fatal metastases.

This means earlier detection of metastases that may save lives for patients and patients.

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The researchers explained that in many cancers, including breast cancer, patients do not necessarily die from the primary tumor.

The deadliest factor, in the end, is the metastases, which reach vital organs and thrive there.

Even in a patient who has undergone all the proposed treatments, including surgery to remove the primary tumor, followed by chemotherapy treatments and radiation designed to eliminate its remnants, metastases may appear several years later.

In the follow-up methods used today, the metastases are detected only when they are already quite large - when the disease is in an advanced stage, and medicine has no effective solutions.

For this reason, Prof. Neta Erez, Head of the Department of Pathology at the Sackler Faculty of Medicine, is investigating the 'black box' - the same period between the apparent recovery and the appearance of metastases, in order to understand the metastatic process and identify it in its early stages. It was found that the target tissues in the organs to which the metastases are destined to reach 'prepare the area' for their absorption and create a friendly environment for them long before the metastases themselves appear.

Most patients die from the spread of the metastases, not from the primary tumor.

Lung photography (Photo: ShutterStock)

"In our study we were able to characterize processes that occur in seemingly healthy tissues in preparation for the absorption of cancerous metastases. We believe that in the future our findings could help identify the metastatic process before the metastases themselves reach and take root in the target organ." The lives of millions of people around the world, "said Prof. Erez.

The changes found in the study were identified in an area known as the 'microenvironment' of the tumor, and specifically in connective tissue cells called fibroblasts.

According to the researchers, these changes in the tissues are a preliminary sign of the possible development of cancer cells - metastases.

According to them, understanding the metastatic process and diagnosing it at such an early stage may lead to life-saving preventive treatment.

Cancer creates a 'supportive environment'

In the present study, the researchers looked for signs of tissue changes, which may be used in the future to identify the process from the very beginning.

The researchers focused on connective tissue cells (fiber cells) called fibroblasts, which are found in, among other things, health.

"In a normal state, fibroblasts play a key role in healing wounds and tissue damage, but recent studies have shown that cancer manages to recruit them and cause them to produce a supportive environment for it," said Prof. Erez.

In the current study, we performed a sequencing of all the expressed genes (transcriptomic sequencing) in fibroblast cells taken from the lungs of mice in a breast cancer model. "

Understanding the metastatic process and diagnosing it early can lead to life-saving preventative treatment.

Prof. Neta Erez (Photo: Tel Aviv University Spokeswoman)

The researchers compared the results of flooring in cells sampled from healthy lungs, lungs with micro-metastases (tiny metastases that cannot be identified on conventional clinical trials), and lungs with large metastases, in a state of advanced disease.

Based on the changes identified from stage to stage, the researchers were able to characterize for the first time the process that takes place in the microenvironment of the cancer metastases, already in the early stages of preparing the surface for their absorption.

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In addition, they specifically identified the proteins that drive the 'rewiring' processes in fibroblasts, and found that one of the key proteins in the process is Myc - known as a driving factor in accelerating the division of cancer cells.

It now turns out that this protein also plays an important role in the change that occurs in fibroblasts towards the absorption of metastases.

The study was led by Prof. Erez, along with a team of researchers in her laboratory, Dr. Ofir Shani and Dr. Yael Raz, as well as other researchers from Tel Aviv University, the Tel Aviv Medical Center (Ichilov), the Sheba Medical Center and the Weizmann Institute.

The article was published in the journal eLife.

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