Platelets - Chameleon in cancer! Can promote cancer, can also suppress cancer!

June 4, 2019 / BIOON / - have you ever thought in the classroom that the information presented in the classroom may be wrong? During my postgraduate period, I attended a medical school class The professor said in the class that at a certain time of medical training, there would be a fact that might later prove to be wrong New discoveries are constantly subverting our most basic beliefs One area that is being revisited is the complex interaction between blood components and the body Don't worry; as your high school textbook says, red blood cells still carry oxygen from the lungs to the rest of the body, and white blood cells still protect your body from foreign invaders However, the more subtle role of blood, especially in diseases such as cancer, has not been fully understood As a cell and molecular biologist, James Michael, a lecturer in biochemistry at Thomas Jefferson University, started his research on the intracellular changes that cause cancer His interest in cancer eventually led him to explore how tumors get enough nutrition There is a blood component that is constantly present in the literature and plays an interesting and dynamic role in a person's cancer: platelets Photo source: http://cn.bing.com platelets and cancer platelets are part of the blood When your knee is scratched or scratched by paper, they will work immediately The signals controlling wound recognition and treatment are very complex However, under normal physiological conditions, these signals mediate a process called platelet activation, which heals wounds by closing the ruptured blood vessels In addition to this well-known role, scientists have discovered many other functions of platelets In fact, in the past 50 years, people have realized the relationship between the more platelets and the development of cancer The number of platelets in cancer patients is increased The study shows that platelet-mediated blood clots are related to tumor cell metastasis This suggests that platelets may be involved in the spread of cancer to other parts of the body But it may not be the only way to treat cancer with platelets Platelets, along with other types of cells, release particles that respond to various stimuli, including those that mediate platelet activation to promote wound healing Although the mechanism of microparticles is not fully understood, several studies have shown that they contain molecules that regulate gene switches Changes in gene activity will eventually affect protein production or turnover, leading to many changes affecting health Interestingly, the particles contain molecules that have been shown to alter gene expression and are associated with cancer progression Photo source: http://cn.bing.com this raises an interesting question: can platelets and the particles released when they are activated also regulate cancer progression? Can platelets cause cancer? Michael and his colleagues are trying to solve this problem, starting with perhaps the most important question: whether platelet-derived particles can be detected in patients' cancer tissues In fact, using high-resolution microscopes, they looked at particles in many types of tissue cancers Importantly, they did not find particles in the normal tissue of the same patient, suggesting that they were specifically targeted at cancer cells This is a particularly interesting observation, because previously, these vesicles were assumed to affect only other cells in the blood vessel, not any other surrounding cells Their team demonstrated that platelet-derived particles are specifically targeted at tumors In addition, these targeted cells absorbed gene regulatory molecules in the microparticles However, contrary to their original hypothesis, they observed that microparticles inhibited the growth of solid tumors This finding suggests that platelets may not be so easy to pick out because they are just a bad guy in the progression of cancer Rethinking the role of platelets new information enables researchers like him to reassess our understanding of the role of platelets in cancer Until recently, relatively few studies have observed the protective role of platelets in cancer Although there is a large amount of evidence that intact platelets are related to promoting cancer, the dual effects of anticancer and cancer promoting platelets raise some interesting questions about intact platelets and their released particles Photo source: http://cn.bing.com therefore, in the field of cancer biology, it is easy to think of platelets as so-called chameleons Intact platelets seem to promote cancer, but particles do the opposite, creating a natural system of checks and balances In addition, the so-called leakage of tumor blood vessels is also considered to be a possible cause of particles entering cancerous tissues rather than normal tissues It's fascinating that one day, with more descriptions of the transport of goods, scientists can use the natural transport of the body's extracellular vesicles, such as these particles, as a therapeutic resource Reference materials: [1] platelets: the chameleons of cancer biology [2] h é L è ne pl é et al The repertoire and features of human platelet microRNAs PLoS One 2012 Https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0050746 [3] Takashi tsuruo et al Platelet aggregation in the formation of tumor metadata Proc JPN Acad ser B phys bio SCI 2008 Jun； 84(6)： 189-198 doi： 10.2183/pjab/84.189 【4】Nailin Li Platelets in cancer metastasis： To help the "villain" to do evil International Journal of Cancer 2015 https：//doi.org/10.1002/ijc.29847
【5】Peter Wolf et al The Nature and Significance of Platelet Products in Human Plasma British Journal of Haematology 1967 https：//doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2141.1967.tb08741.x 【6】Gabriel J Gasic et al Platelet-tumor‐cell interactions in mice The role of platelets in the spread of malignant disease International Journal of Cancer 1973 https：//doi.org/10.1002/ijc.2910110322