From the first moment
my wife discovered she had breast cancer, there was a deafening silence from
the men I know. Even ones whose wives, mothers or girlfriends had breast cancer
seemed to have received a gag order from some Central Cancer Command and did
little more than mumble about the experience. Not one to shut up for any known
reason, I started this blog…
Every month, I’ll be
highlighting breast cancer research that is going on RIGHT NOW! Harvested from
different websites, journals and podcasts, I’ll translate them into
understandable English and share them with you. Today: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/06/140603092602.htm
“So far there isn't a really good target that can cure
breast cancer. The more we understand of cancer metastasis and the pathways
that control it, the better we will be able to stop breast cancer from
spreading.”
While not EVERY woman treated for breast cancer experiences metastasizing
tumors – which means that the initial breast cancer breaks up and sends cells
to colonize the rest of the body – this is a worry for EVERY breast cancer
diagnosis. Diagnosis and identification of metastasizing cancer is one of the
reasons for regular checkups following mastectomy, chemo, and radiation. There
is no way to know if a cancer has spread until it actually begins to show
itself.
While breast cancer is often localized and stays in breast
tissue and is treated there, no one was certain what exactly caused it to
abruptly leave that tissue and begin to grow elsewhere.
Scientists have now identified a protein found in breast
cancer cells that likely causes cells that usually remain in one place to go
out into the rest of the body. With the daunting name of heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoprotein M, hnRNPM is a
protein-coding gene. Diseases associated with HNRNPM include impetigo, and
treacher collins syndrome. The gene allows for the creation of a protein that “acts
as a receptor for carcinoembryonic antigen in Kupffer cells, may initiate a
series of signaling events leading to tyrosine phosphorylation of
proteins and induction...tumor necrosis...”
In other words, the gene they’ve discovered in breast cancer
cells makes a protein that causes the cell to leave breast tissue and attach
itself to other body organs and begin growing there – this is the definition of
metastasizing.
Cause for celebration?
Not yet, but identifying something is the first step in being
able to deal with it: “‘This confirmed hnRNPM's role in the metastasis of human
breast cancer,’ Cheng said. ‘Now we're investigating how the protein works in
order to be able to develop a drug that could prevent tumor metastasis.’”
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