A gene previously identified as critical
for tumor growth in many human cancers also maintains intestinal stem cells and encourages the growth of cells that support them, according to results of a study led by Johns Hopkins researchers.
Because those organoids include stroma, a scaffold of connective tissue
essential for tumor growth, they may prove better for studying therapies that target the stroma, such as cancer immunotherapy.
Spheroids serve as models for the development of healthy tissues and their maintenance in the living organism but also as
models for tumor growth (Pampaloni et al. 2007).
Tumors escape from the fighter T - cells that would otherwise attack them, by tricking the immune system and making an environment
ripe for tumor growth.
Therefore, it is essential to learn more about the
mechanisms for tumor growth and how the chemo agents can inhibit the pathways for growth.
A drug candidate that overstimulates proteins
crucial for tumor growth shows promise as a new strategy to treat a wide range of cancers.
Yoon says the presence of these cells could be a
marker for tumor growth and metastasis. Because tumors often metastasize along lymph ducts and into lymph nodes, studying this type of cells could lead to new targets for blocking tumor metastasis.
At the end of only three months, 48 genes crucial to cancer growth were found to be more active but 453 genes (ones that
controlled for tumor growth and protein production) were less active in producing proteins.
The ongoing work of the research teams seek to define the interactions between the tumor cells and their microenvironment that determine which lineage predominates, and that provide a safe
niche for tumor growth and progression.
Curcumin is a powerful antioxidant agent that has been directly linked with a reduction in colon cancer cells and is also a direct inhibitor of a protein that is
essential for tumor growth.
Kon M, Kiffin R, Koga H, et al: Chaperone - Mediated Autophagy Is Required
for Tumor Growth.