American researchers have succeeded in studying the evolution of metastases using a mathematical model. They show that they are formed at a very early stage of the disease.
400,000 new cases of cancer were detected in France in 2017 according to theNational Cancer Institute. 150,000 people died in the same year. Research into the disease and ways to treat it is progressing. From American researchers from the University of Pennsylvania provide new information on the manufacture of metastases: these would develop very early, during the early stages of the disease.
Metastases are the development of cancer in the body. These are tumors made from cancer cells that have broken off from a first tumor. They travel to another part of the body through lymphatic or blood vessels. Often, metastases develop in the brain, bones, liver or lungs.
A long process of tumor installation
Jimmy Qian and Erol Akçay, the two researchers behind this research, used a mathematical model to understand the process of development of cancerous tumors. They realized that mutations in cells, which will then metastasize, appear very early. Cancer cells don’t just reproduce among healthy cells. They also modify the environment to make it more conducive to their development.
This process can also be done remotely. Malignant cells will send signals through the bloodstream to other places in the human body. These signals create new development spaces for cancer. Different types of cancer cells make up the tumor, some work to build the immediate environment of the tumor, others to make pre-metastatic niches. A third type of cell is capable of both at the same time, while the fourth category is inactive.
The resources needed for cell development
For the researchers, the cells that participate in the manufacture of the pre-metastatic niches are the most likely to host the tumor. Quite simply because around them, they have no “competitors”, no other cancer cells which consume the available resources. The tumor settles in the most ideal environment for it, hence this observation. Jimmy Qian likens this phenomenon to a picture: “It’s like humans. We prepare our children by creating funds to build schools. Cancer does the same thing. It remotely prepares a place where its children can one day be able to. migrate “.
Cancer research is advancing year by year. According to the National Cancer Institute, 50,000 patients participated in a trial in 2017. This is 4.5% more people compared to 2015.
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