Lack of nutrients in cancer cells attracts cells that inhibit the immune system
An article published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) states that when cancer cells are deprived of glucose, these release a great amount of signalling molecules. When cancer cells are deprived of glucose, these release a great amount of signalling molecules that attract immune cells and neutralize an efficent defensive strategy. The new study was carried out by the team led by Cristina Muñoz Pinedo, adjunct lecturer at the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences of the University of Barcelona and the Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBELL), in collaboration with experts from the Catalan Institute of Oncology (ICO).
An article published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) states that when cancer cells are deprived of glucose, these release a great amount of signalling molecules. When cancer cells are deprived of glucose, these release a great amount of signalling molecules that attract immune cells and neutralize an efficent defensive strategy. The new study was carried out by the team led by Cristina Muñoz Pinedo, adjunct lecturer at the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences of the University of Barcelona and the Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBELL), in collaboration with experts from the Catalan Institute of Oncology (ICO).
Some solid tumours show a high growth rate, which leads to a lack of vascularization and makes the accompanying blood vessels and tumour formations to stop developing at the same speed. With this lack of nutrients, cancer cells respond by releasing cytokines and chemokines, molecules that attract the first defences of the immune system, so it inhibits a more specific and effective attack. These cytokines, in addition, are able to promote the creation of new blood vessels that will nourish the tumour again.
The reduction in nutrients in the less vascularized areas of tumours trigger responses of cell stress “which are known as integrated stress response, and makes the cells to produce alarm proteins associated with cancer progression”, notes the lecturer Muñoz. The new study, whose first author is the researcher Franziska Püschel (IDIBELL), states that the signal cascade produced by a lack of nutrients takes part in processes related to tumour inflammation, a determining factor for the evolution of the illness.