14 DAY TRIAL // Scientists with the Cancer Research UK Manchester Institute claim that, having carried out a series of experiments and investigations in laboratory conditions, they managed to figure out how and why lung cancer spreads through the body.
Besides, the researchers argue that, now that they know more about this phenomenon than they did until not too long ago, they might be able to find a way to keep cancer cells populating an individual's lungs from migrating to other organs.
Given the fact that, in this day and age, lung cancer kills some 35,000 people in the UK alone on a yearly basis, finding a way to prevent the conditions from engulfing other body parts and metastasizing would help save thousands of lives.
A better understanding of lung cancer
In a paper published in the journal Cell Reports earlier this week, the Cancer Research UK Manchester Institute specialists behind this investigation explain that, as shown by previous studies, healthy cells like to stick together.
Lung cancer cells, on the other hand, don't really enjoy hanging around their childhood buddies. On the contrary, the ties that should keep these cells bundled up in one place are severed. Consequently, lung cancer cells have no trouble becoming hikers.
In the report detailing their work, the scientists explain that, although it is true that healthy cells have countless times been observed scrapping old parts of themselves on a regular basis, the fact remains that, when it comes to lung cancer, the ties that keep cells together are discarded at a freakishly rapid pace.
“This important research shows for the first time how lung cancer cells sever ties with their neighbors and start to spread around the body, by hijacking the cells' recycling process and sending it into overdrive,” study leader Dr. Angeliki Malliri said in a statement, as cited by Science Daily.
Keeping lung cancer from spreading
As mentioned, the scientists expect that, now that they know how lung cancer spreads, they might be able to find a way to prevent metastasis by forcing the cancer cells populating a patient's lungs to stick together rather than break loose as they want to.
The idea is to find a way to toy with the cells' natural recycling processes and save the ties that keep cells together from being scrapped at a rapid pace. True, keeping cancer from spreading is not the same as curing this condition. Still, such a breakthrough has the potential to save plenty of people.
“Early-stage research like this is essential to find treatments which could one day block cancer spread – which would be a game changer. It's also crucial that we find ways to diagnose the disease earlier, when treatment is more likely to be successful and the cancer is less likely to have spread,” explained specialist Nell Barrie.
