Another new way of thinking! Transform cancer cells into less harmful cell types

Cancer
occurs when cells grow uncontrollably and spread to other organs of the body.

Researchers at the University of Basel and University Hospital Basel have tested the possibility of artificially maturing (or more accurately, differentiating) breast cancer cells as a way
to turn them into more normal types of cells.

Differentiation is a therapeutic strategy that has been successfully applied to the treatment of bloodborne cancers, but not to solid tumors
.

Bentires-Alj, team leader in the Department of Biomedicine, said: "We are showing here that we can transform breast cancer cells into less harmful cells
that stop growing.

Dual activity of estrogen receptors

By binding to its homologous receptors (estrogen receptors), estrogen acts as a signaling molecule in cells, inducing a range of biological effects
.

In contrast, it proliferates significantly in a small subset of breast cancer cells that express estrogen receptors
.

However, the triple-negative breast cancer subtype is insensitive
to estrogen or antiestrogen.

The research team, in collaboration with Novartis, tested the efficacy
of more than 9,500 compounds in achieving this goal.

Affect treatment

Bentires-Alj said: "Understanding the cellular and molecular mechanisms that define cancer and how these mechanisms differ from normal cells is critical
to developing new and innovative therapies.

Especially in the era of immunotherapy, it has been proposed that "normal-like" cells can be cleared by the immune system, while "cancerous" cells evade the killing
of immune cells.
Whether differentiated therapies can be combined with immunotherapy in the future remains to be seen
.
The researchers concluded: "We are pursuing a strategy where only time and resources stand in the way of our further progress
.
"

essay

A high-throughput drug screen reveals means to differentiate triple-negative breast cancer