Breast cancer 'tumour trigger' that spreads disease discovered

ConclusionAn Edinburgh-based team used mice engineered to develop breast cancer to better understand how it spreads from breast tissue to the lung, where it can be fatal. They identified specific chemical signals and receptors on immune cells called macrophages that were involved in the spread. By genetically tampering with one of the signalling pathways, they were able to reduce some of the cancer spread, raising hopes that this might be a future treatment avenue.Fiddling with the genetics in the same way as was done for the mice would probably not be a viable treatment for humans. Aside from ethical and technical issues, genetic manipulation of this nature could lead to a range of side effects. However, there are potentially other ways of blocking the same signalling pathway.The results were encouraging, but they are at a very early research stage. Right now, we don’t know if this would work in humans, because it has only been tested in mice. While biologically similar, mice and humans do differ in potentially important ways. The only way to know if disrupting this signalling pathway might be useful in minimising breast cancer spread to the lungs would be to do experiments on humans. We also don’t know if this treatment helped the mice live longer, experience less pain or respond better to other treatments. Similarly, the genetic manipulation didn’t stop the cancer spreading completely to the lungs, it just reduced it. Hence, we are a long way off stopping the spread ...
Source: NHS News Feed - Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Cancer Source Type: news