The mystery of metastasis breast cancer cell hibernation is solved

According to a cancer study published on
22, a team of scientists at the U.S. National Cancer Institute analyzed 3D models and found that breast cancer cells that metascess to other organs and remain dormant are self-phageding mechanisms that ensure long-term survival.
cancer has become a major public health problem in the current society. In fact, the breast is not an important organ to sustain human life activities, in-place breast cancer is not fatal. However, when breast cancer cells lose the properties of normal cells, the connections between the cells become loose and easy to fall off, and free cancer cells can spread throughout the body with blood or lymphatic fluid, forming metastasis. One of the leading causes of death from breast cancer is the recurrence of the tumor after initial diagnosis and treatment, which is caused by the metastasis of dormant tumor cells. However, little is known why dormant breast cancer cells can survive in the long term.
and autophagy is an important mechanism for cell self-healing: breaking down parts of cell content that are no longer needed and recycling it. A variety of diseases in the human body are associated with the regulation of autophagy, which has been shown in recent years to play an extremely important role in the onset of breast cancer.
, Kent Hunter, a scientist at the National Cancer Institute, and colleagues analyzed that metastasis of breast cancer cells remained dormant through autophagy and survived in other organs. Using 3D cell and mouse models, the team found that genetically operated and pharmacological inhibitors blocked the autophagy of breast cancer cells that spread during sleep, hindering their survival and thus inhibiting tumor growth in other organs far from the breast.
team also found that inhibiting autophagy reduces the viability of tumor cells because damaged mitochondrials and oxidative stress accumulate, leading to cell death. Scientists believe that on the basis of this study, targeted interventions for autophagy may be able to prevent breast cancer recurrence, thereby reducing the risk of this threat to women's physical and mental health "killers." (Source: Science and Technology Daily Zhang Mengran)