( When cancer spreads people often die. ...)Researcher uncovers details of how cancer spreads

Cornell University researchers have now furthered understanding of how these pathways work. Their insights might aid future research on drug therapies that disrupt the sequence of events that lead to metastasis.

A study published in the journal Developmental Cell (Vol. 9, August 2005) reveals how connective tissue holding a cancer cell in place might degrade, unmooring the diseased cell and allowing it to spread to other parts of the body.

"We have identified a pathway that is specific for cancer," said Jun-Lin Guan, a professor in the Department of Molecular Medicine in the College of Veterinary Medicine at Cornell and an author of the paper. "So from here, if someone identifies a drug that targets this pathway, it is possible the drug will not affect normal cell function but will affect cancer cell activity." That, in turn, would alleviate drug side effects.

Guan and his colleagues used a cultured cell line to study cancer, which are mouse cells grown in the lab for research purposes. The researchers used these cells to create a model system for cancer cells, which means its basic pathway exists in real-world systems, while the actual proteins that act on the system may vary.

In the model system, the researchers discovered critical differences between cancer cells and normal cells regarding a mechanism called endocytosis -- which cells employ to let materials enter through the cell membrane.

The researchers used a protein called v-Src derived from an oncogenic virus, which has the ability to transform a normal cell into one with many features resembling those found in cancer cells. While this virus has not been found in humans, it does lead to tumor growth in chickens and created cancerous cells in the cultured system. I
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Source:Cornell University News Service