The IT-LIVER European consortium unveils new TGF-beta functions in liver cancer

Isabel Fabregat, from the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences of the University of Barcelona and IDIBELL.
Isabel Fabregat, from the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences of the University of Barcelona and IDIBELL.
Research
(29/03/2017)

A new article, published in the journal Cancer Letters, shows how TGF-beta cytokine is able to shape not only the migratory ability of the hepatocellular carcinoma cell but also their ability as tumor initiators. The new study is part of the most recent results of the TGF-beta and Cancer research group of the Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBELL), within IT-Liver, a European collaboration action among several research groups and led by Isabel Fabregat, lecturer at the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences of the University of Barcelona. 

Isabel Fabregat, from the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences of the University of Barcelona and IDIBELL.
Isabel Fabregat, from the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences of the University of Barcelona and IDIBELL.
Research
29/03/2017

A new article, published in the journal Cancer Letters, shows how TGF-beta cytokine is able to shape not only the migratory ability of the hepatocellular carcinoma cell but also their ability as tumor initiators. The new study is part of the most recent results of the TGF-beta and Cancer research group of the Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBELL), within IT-Liver, a European collaboration action among several research groups and led by Isabel Fabregat, lecturer at the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences of the University of Barcelona. 

TFG-beta plays a dual role in cancer since it acts as tumor suppressor from the beginning of the pathology but it can promote its generation in advanced stages. “What has been studied with detail so far is the relation between the tumorigenic potential of TGF-beta and its ability to induce a process known as epithelial-mesenchymal transition, which favors the migration of cancer cells. The current study shows that during this process, TGF-beta could also shape the ability of the tumor cell to behave as a tumor initiator” says Isabel Fabregat, author of the study.


“The tumor needs the cells that move to the lymphatic system to migrate in order to favor its movement in invasive stages, but it also needs these cells to have tumor-initiation abilities in order to metastasize and spread once they reach their destination”, says the researcher from IDIBELL and the University of Barcelona.

 


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