 |
|
| Science Forum Index » Life Extension Forum » MIT researchers find chronic inflammation initiates... |
|
Page 1 of 1 |
|
| Author |
Message |
| Taka... |
 Posted: Mon Nov 02, 2009 11:56 pm |
|
|
|
Guest
|
Possible origins of pancreatic cancer revealed
Study results: MIT cancer biologists have identified a subpopulation
of cells that can give rise to pancreatic cancer. They also found that
tumors can form in other, more mature pancreatic cell types, but only
when they are injured or inflamed, suggesting that pancreatic cancer
can arise from different types of cells depending on the
circumstances.
Why it matters: There are few good treatment options for pancreatic
cancer, which kills an estimated 35,000 Americans per year — making it
the country’s fourth-leading cause of cancer death. Learning more
about the origins of pancreatic cancer cells could help scientists
develop better treatments and tools for early diagnosis. “By the time
pancreatic disease is typically diagnosed, it’s already very advanced
and non-curable. Our new findings can help scientists focus their drug
development efforts and lead them to new ways to detect the disease in
early stages,” says Sharon Friedlander, a postdoctoral associate at
MIT’s David H. Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research and lead
author of a paper describing the work in the Nov. 3 issue of Cancer
Cell.
How they did it: The team found that in mice, tumors originate from a
subpopulation of pancreatic cells that express a protein called pdx1.
This protein plays a critical role in pancreas development and
differentiation, a process of specialization that normally occurs
during embryonic development but can also occur later in life. This
suggests that under normal conditions, pancreatic cancer may arise
from a type of adult stem cell that can differentiate into mature
pancreatic cells, says Friedlander.
When the cancer-promoting gene K-ras, commonly activated in tumors,
was turned on in the pdx1-expressing cells, they became cancerous.
However, mature pancreatic cells, such as insulin-secreting cells,
became cancerous only when they expressed K-ras and also suffered from
chronic inflammation. Under these conditions, the insulin-secreting
cells became another cell type, a condition that appears necessary
before they can initiate pancreatic cancer.
Next steps: In future studies, the MIT researchers plan to use their
mouse models to follow the molecular events that take place during
pancreatic cancer development and identify potential targets for drug
treatments and protein markers for early diagnosis. These new mouse
models could also help researchers test potential pancreatic cancer
treatments.
Source: “Context-dependent transformation of adult pancreatic cells by
oncogenic K-ras,” Sharon Gidekel Friedlander, Tyler Jacks, et al.
Cancer Cell, Nov. 3 issue.
SOURCE: http://web.mit.edu/press/2009/possible-origins-of-pancreatic-cancer-revealed.html
----------------
Such reports make me wonder - how much longer we have to pay these
researchers to find the obvious and cure no one ...
Taka |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
| montygraham... |
| Posted: Tue Nov 03, 2009 11:33 am |
|
|
|
Guest
|
Not only that, but things seem to be "going backwards," in that
"inflammation" is being blamed rather than the reason for the
inflammation. Back in the 1980s, it was recognized that dietary PUFAs
were the root cause, for example:
http://www.springerlink.com/content/tr5085n853862131/
Get the AA out of your cells and "chronic inflammation" is highly
unlikely to occur (if you work with highly toxic chemicals or
something like that, you may be at risk still). |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
|
|
All times are GMT - 5 Hours
The time now is Sun Nov 29, 2009 1:57 am
|
|