Cao Xuetao's team found new mechanisms for the deterioration of advanced cancer

March 29,

, a member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and president of Nankai University, reported the discovery of a new erythrocyte-like subset called Ter cells in the swollen spleen of advanced cancer, which can promote the progression of cancer by secreting neurotrophic factor artemin, which suggests new ideas for cancer prognosis and intervention therapy.
currently believes that cancer is a systemic disease that occurs locally and affects the function of multiple organs throughout the body, such as spleen swelling in advanced patients. In the past, the research on cancer development mechanism and diagnosis and treatment focused on cancer cells themselves, and the role of abnormal organ abnormalities in the distant organs of the body outside the primary tumor body in the process of cancer immune escape and invasion metastasis was insufficient.
Cao Xuetao, in collaboration with Han Yanmei, Liu Qiuyan and Hou Jin, a national key laboratory of medical immunology at the Second Military Medical University, jointly worked with the Institute of Basic Medicine of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, the Institute of Liver Cancer of Sun Yat-sen University Hospital, Shanghai Fang Hepatocholine Surgery Hospital and other units to systematically analyze abnormal changes in immune cells in the host organs of advanced cancer, and found a group of new cell subgroups in the spleen that can promote the progression of malignant cancer.
study found that the cancer primary lesions induce red-line dysplomatic disorders in the spleen by releasing type β-type growth factors into the blood, and produce a new class of cell subptops that express the Ter-119 red line cell marker, thus naming it Ter cells. The cell located in the spleen secretes a large amount of neurotrophic factor artemin, which leads to a significant increase in the level of artemin in the blood, which in turn promotes the invasion and metastasis of cancer cells and is accompanied by malignant anemia. A cohort study of liver cancer patients in multiple clinical centers found that the higher the serum level and the worse the prognosis in liver cancer patients. Blocking artemin by antibodies can inhibit cancer progression and significantly prolong host survival.
The work presents a new potential target for cancer prognostic judgment and interventional treatment, enriches the understanding of cancer systemic abnormal changes to promote malignant processes, discovers a new way for cancer primary lesions to produce new cell substations using the distant spleen to worsen the patient's condition, and puts forward the idea that removing the spleen of patients with advanced cancer or selectively removing Ter cells can help to treat advanced cancer comprehensively. (Source: Science.com)