How Cancerous Cells Stay Sleeping for Years Discovered

Every year about 10 million There are still many mysteries about cancer, which is one of the biggest diseases of our age that causes the death of human beings. One of these mysteries is how cancer cells can passively survive for years after leaving a tumor before spreading to other parts of the body and becoming metastatic cancer. asleep was staying.

However, in the light of recent research, it was finally revealed why. According to the findings published in Nature Cancer, the reason why cancerous cells stay dormant for years is because of the surrounding cells. a type of collagen it turned out to be.

With the decrease of collagen level, cells become malignant.

According to research, cells type III collagen It remains silent for a while, secreting a type of collagen in its name; However, as a result of decreased collagen level, these cells bad-tempered it becomes The researchers think that as a result of enriching the surrounding of the cells with this collagen, it may be possible to keep the cancerous cells dormant and thus prevent the recurrence of the tumor.

A study was conducted to predict the potential clinical consequences of the findings and the possible tumor recurrence of these findings. biomarker and even as a therapeutic to reduce both local and distant relapses. ‘interference’ Stating that it can be used as a Dr. Jose Javier Bravo Cordero “As the biology of tumor dormancy is revealed and new specific drugs are developed, combining sleep-inducing therapies with therapies that specifically target dormant cells will eventually prevent local recurrence and metastasis and pave the way to cancer remission.” uses expressions.

Awakening of cancerous cells can be prevented by collagen supplementation

A technology that allows dormant cells in a living animal to be visualized in their environment in real time. intravital two-photon microscopy it is about to included too high resolution imaging techniquesUsing breast, head and neck cancer cell lines, dormant tumor cells were observed in mouse models. Using this technology, the researchers created a visualization of both the changes that occur in the extracellular matrix when tumor cells are dormant, and the changes that occur when cells are activated and awakened.

Researchers examining the samples taken from the patients, as a result of the examinations, collagen abundanceconcluded that it could be used as a potential measure in predicting tumor recurrence and metastasis. By increasing the amount of type III collagen around cancer cells in experiments on mice, researchers found that cancer progression in these cells was stopped and malignant cells were in a dormant state. having a hard time observed.

This means that type III collagen is combined with strategies aimed at enriching the tumor microenvironment, similar to the treatment of complex skin wounds. in the prevention of metastasis available. In other words, it may be possible to avoid the disease by preventing the awakening of cancerous cells.