Tumor metastasis formation like?

Cancer is a malignant disease of the cell, in which cells are mutated, infinitely proliferated, not under the control of the body.

When tumor cells have the ability to move and invade other tissues, there is a risk of metastasis; then the treatment of cancer also becomes more difficult.

At the Institut Curie, CNRS research director Philippe Chavrier and his team discovered how breast cancer cells can cross their binding boundaries in tumors.

The basement membrane around the mammary gland is a barrier that separates cancer cells from spreading. Three proteins in the cancer cell transport the enzymes needed to penetrate the defense gland, other proteins that help bring enzymes into the proper place.

The result is an essential step in the quest to identify tumors capable of developing high metastases, even to inhibit metastasis.

General tissue is formed by arranging cells side by side. Epithelial cells cover the outside surface, such as skin or organs such as the mammary gland. Epithelial cells are also closely linked. This connection is vital to the functioning of the body. Epithelial cells will remain in their original tissues until they die. Although they sometimes separate and move, this movement is essential in the development of embryos because cells form new tissue. When cancer cells "squeal" often foretold the formation of metastases.

When cancer cells "crouch"

Scanning electron micrograph describes the breast cancer cell image (pink) in the very thick layer of Matrigel (blue).Matrigel membranes simulate the basement membrane separating tissues in the body.Invasive cells pass through the Matrigel layer and escape by carrying out a process similar to the invasion of cancer cells.(Photo by Renaud Poincloux & Philippe Chavrier / CNRS / Institut Curie Thanks to the Ultrastructural Microscopy Group of the Institut Pasteur (Head: Marie-Christine Prevost))

Cancer cells accumulate many errors , become completely chaotic, do not follow any rules. Some cells are even separated from tumors by complex mechanisms that are still unknown. Membrane and Cytoskeleton Dynamics Group (Membrane and Cytoskeleton Dynamics Group) led by Philippe Chavrier (UMR 144 CNRS / Institut Curie) has opened up new information on how cells, in this case Breast cancer cells, can escape from "shackles" binding them. The mammary gland is separated from the adjacent tissue by the basement membrane, cancer cells must pass through the basement membrane to be able to continue to move. The cell forms a protruding protrusion called an invadopodia, which then anchors the protrusion at the basement membrane. This step provides all that is needed to penetrate the basement. Cancer cells produce a lot of proteases to impair the function of the extracellular matrix proteins that lock them inside, part of which is in the basement membrane. Proteases penetrate a hole in the basement membrane that cancer cells have escaped through that pathway.

In the first published paper, the researchers used metastatic breast cancer cell models to demonstrate that proteins sec3, sec8 and IQGAP1 transported bags containing proteases to the invadopodia. Without sec3, sec8 and IQGAP1 the transport bag will not be able to bind to the ends of the invadopodia so that the cancer cell will not escape successfully and penetrate nearby tissue. Before proteases can destroy the basement membrane, they must be freed from the transport bags.

In the second publication, Philippe Chavrier and colleagues demonstrated Vamp7 protein capable of dissolving proteases-containing vesicles with the membrane of cancer cells. Only then can proteases at the ends of the invadopodia gradually erode the membrane of the mammary gland. The inhibition of Vamp7 activity can significantly reduce the likelihood of breast cancer cells destroying the extracellular matrix.

Therefore, cancer cells can only escape from the mammary gland by completing the entire metabolic chain. Philippe Chavrier and his team have shown how they know the mechanism by which cancer cells leave the original tissue and then spread throughout the body and form metastases.

The team's findings help explain why certain types of breast cancer are more "aggressive" than others, or may even help identify tumors that have a high likelihood of metastatic formation at an early stage. . It is possible that tumor invasion will be inhibited by interfering with the internal mechanism discovered by Philippe Chavriver and his colleagues.

How do cancer cells spread?

While the tumor grows, one or more cancer cells are capable of detaching, moving to a new location away from the old tumor and developing into a new drive called metastatic or metastatic location. The position of disease formation is called the primary tumor by doctors .

In addition, cancer cells enter the bloodstream, flow through the bloodstream , lingering somewhere (usually small blood vessels) and multiply, grow there. Lungs and liver are places where blood vessels are dense, so cancer cells are more prone to becoming part or most metastatic. On the way to the new land, many cells died along the way. So to have a new metastatic drive, a lot of cells need to be separated from the tumor.

In addition, cancer cells also follow the second pathway of lymph . This is a network of tubes that branch like blood vessels, radiating throughout the body, called lymphatic with almost transparent fluids circulating inside, which protects the body. Along the pathway of lymphatic, pea-shaped small blood vessels are present. Cancer cells after getting rid of the primary tumor can enter the lymphatic network and stay in the lymph.

Cancer can also spread in ways less obstructed in the cavity, the tube in the body. For example, stomach cancer after invading the stomach wall, cells can peel off, falling into the abdomen causing metastasis in the ovary.

And in fact, cancer can also spread due to improper surgical techniques . A scalpel cuts across the tumor, full of cancer cells if it touches the healthy tissue that will transplant the cells into those tissues.

Consequences for the body

At the primary site, if there is no timely preventive treatment, the tumor will destroy surrounding healthy tissue, damage the function and cause pain. It is worth mentioning that cancer is very metastatic on important parts of the body.

Cancer cells produce toxins and hormones are not necessary to cause metabolic disorders that make the body tired, anorexia. Cancer also causes an infection in the immune system, reducing immunity. Cancer causes nutritional imbalance for cancer cells and disputes nutrients with healthy cells that cause the body to become worn out and eventually lead to death.

Absolutely preventable

The advice of specialized cancer experts is that it is necessary to regularly use the means of labor protection when exposed to the working environment with toxic substances contaminated with some viruses, bacteria, parasites. nematode and toxic radiation rays,

It is equally necessary to prevent cancer by renouncing bad habits such as smoking alcohol abuse and exercising sports . Need a proper diet. Do not use too much protein, fat, sweet, in daily meals instead of vegetables, tubers, products processed from soybeans are very good food for the body to help prevent the body. cancer.