(Press-News.org) AMHERST, Mass. – There is a surprising dearth of research about how breast cancer cells can go dormant, spread and then resurface years or even decades later, according to a new review of in vitro breast cancer studies conducted by researchers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
“[Our review found that] less than 1% of all these studies that combine cells with designer environments look at dormancy,” says Shelly Peyton, Provost Professor of Chemical Engineering. “It’s not enough. We just don’t understand what’s happening— and it’s killing patients.”
Breast cancer dormancy is a phenomenon in which breast cancer cells metastasize —or spread to different tissue sites throughout the body (typically the liver, lungs, brain or bones)—but don’t grow. “They’re not detectable or symptomatic tumors,” Peyton explains. “A patient will have their primary tumor removed and appear to be disease-free for months, years, even decades. And for reasons we don’t understand, something changes about the environment that causes those cells to start regrowing, and then you have a deadly metastasis.”
Patients with metastatic breast cancer have a 30% five-year survival rate, compared to a 99% survival rate for localized breast cancer. “Early detection is key, particularly in the Western world,” says Peyton. “You can have lumpectomies, radiation, small surgeries. And women can survive. It’s when that cancer has spread that it becomes much harder to treat.”
This relapse in distant organs impacts 40% of early-stage breast cancer patients, and breast cancer dormancy is a contributing factor. But while metastasis has known biomarkers, dormant cancer cells are very hard to identify.
“When you have a single dormant breast cancer cell that’s hiding in a distant tissue, it’s really hard to detect that,” says Nate Richbourg, lead author on the paper and postdoctoral researcher in the Peyton Lab. “And you don’t want to do an invasive biopsy or prescribe toxic chemotherapy for something that might not be a problem.”
With these challenges in mind, the review, published in Science Advances, aimed to identify gaps in the research, particularly focusing on in vitro studies, or research using benchtop-model environments instead of animal models or humans. In vitro studies allow for the precise control of the environment, which Peyton’s research group says may play a deciding role in whether a cell remains dormant or reactivates into a deadly metastatic tumor.
“What can we control in these artificial environments that will give us insight into how breast cancer dormancy happens, and what we can do to treat it as well?” Richbourg asks, describing the importance of in vitro modeling. “When we create this artificial dormancy, we can see how many of those cells could turn back into proliferating and potentially deadly cells.”
Their review highlights just how complex the role of the environment is. “If you have a [breast cancer] cell somewhere in the bone marrow, you’re going to have other cells there, the physical factors in your environment, and the biochemical factors,” Richbourg gives as an example. “We try to use reductive models to separate the thing that is influencing this behavior. But what we’re seeing is that everything works together to create this breast cancer dormancy effect. The better we can create models that capture all that nuance, the better we’re going to be able to understand it.”
For Peyton, their work is also a call to action. “The paper is calling out to the field that we need to do more,” she says. This includes being more creative with the materials that already exist and developing new materials; identifying ways to model the decades-long progression of dormancy that is impossible to recreate in a single study; and expanding the diversity of cell lines used for research (Richbourg points out that many of the studies they reviewed used the same cell line, MDA-MB-231, derived from one 40-to-50-year-old white woman).
Finally, the researchers have an eye to the ultimate goal: better treatments to save patients. “We see that that there are some clinical trials that are happening that are derived from some of those in vitro models,” says Ninette Irakoze, graduate student in the Peyton Lab. “The paper gives hope that, with more development of these in vitro models, eventually we could find treatments to eradicate dormant cancer.”
END
In the fight against breast cancer, UMass Amherst researchers identify malignancy hibernation as the next battleground
Chemical engineers at the university find less than 1% of studies examine the phenomenon
2024-03-19
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
The heat index — how hot it really feels — is rising faster than temperature
2024-03-19
Texans have long endured scorching summer temperatures, so a global warming increase of about 3 degrees Fahrenheit (1.5 Celsius) might not sound like much to worry about.
But a new study concludes that the heat index — essentially how hot it really feels — has increased much faster in Texas than has the measured temperature: about three times faster.
That means that on some extreme days, what the temperature feels like is between 8 and 11 F (5 to 6 C) hotter than it would without climate change.
The study, using ...
Medications for Type 2 diabetes, weight loss & kidney health not always provided as needed
2024-03-19
Research Highlights:
Three independent, preliminary research studies have found that new Type 2 diabetes and weight-loss medications are often not prescribed or provided to patients as needed.
One study of adults who had insurance covering the cost of obesity medications found that their likelihood of being prescribed the medications differed based on racial, demographic and medical factors.
A second study determined that not all patients with Type 2 diabetes were equally likely to use the newest medications.
A ...
Study details effects of heat-related emergencies; vulnerable populations found to be most at risk
2024-03-19
Boston, MA – In the first national estimate of county-level disparities in heat-related emergencies, a new study led by investigators from the Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute found that vulnerable communities were at high risk.
The study, “County-Level Disparities in Heat-Related Emergencies,” was published in the March 19 edition of JAMA Network Open.
Climate change has led to significant heat waves with increasing frequency and intensity; the hottest on record occurred in July 2023. Prior studies have highlighted the role of extreme heat waves on significant health-related outcomes including cardiovascular and all-cause mortality ...
Research spotlight: Stem-immunity hubs associated with response to immunotherapy
2024-03-19
Jonathan Chen, MD, PhD, an investigator in the department of Pathology at Massachusetts General Hospital and Nir Hacohen, PhD, director of the Center of Cancer Immunology at Massachusetts General Hospital, are co-authors of a recently published study in Nature Immunology, Human Lung Cancer Harbors Spatially-organized Stem-immunity Hubs Associated with Response to Immunotherapy.
What Question Were You Investigating?
Multicellular networks are critical in mediating immune responses. How do immune cells organize within tumors to effectively eliminate malignant cells?
We recently reported the discovery of a network of immune cells ...
Immunotherapy targeting cancer fusion protein may hold key to treating rare liver cancer
2024-03-19
(MEMPHIS, Tenn. – March 19, 2024) Fibrolamellar carcinoma (FLC) is a rare liver cancer with a poor prognosis if not addressed early with surgery. The disease is caused by a single genetic mutation that creates a fusion protein. Scientists at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and The University of Tennessee Health Science Center discovered an immune cell protein that can target and spark the destruction of FLC. Scientists found naturally occurring T cells in a patient with FLC were uniquely capable of recognizing the fusion protein. These cells provide ...
Experts say low-carb diets are backed by science and support health equity
2024-03-19
What was once a subject of public health debate is now a matter of clear scientific consensus: low-carb diets can be safe, nutritious, and should be included as an option within the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. A group of experts, including leading nutrition and health researchers and healthcare professionals, reviewed the evidence and arrived at more than 15 areas of unanimous scientific agreement on the benefits, opportunities and considerations around lower carbohydrate dietary patterns.
A review of the state of science and summary of the consensus ...
From the Mediterranean into the Atlantic: The Gibraltar arc is migrating to the west
2024-03-19
Oceans are subject to continuous change, mostly over extremely vast periods of time running into millions of years. Researchers from Universidade de Lisboa in Portugal and Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) in Germany now used computer simulations to demonstrate that a subduction zone originating in the Western Mediterranean will propagate into the Atlantic under the Strait of Gibraltar. According to their model, this will create a new Atlantic subduction zone 50 million years into the future, which will then move down into the Earth's mantle. The new geodynamic ...
The science is in: Being good is actually good for you
2024-03-19
“A wonderful book full of fascinating scientific insights explained with great clarity, inspiring us to let kindness reign in our hearts and thus accomplish the twofold benefit of others and oneself.” —Matthieu Ricard, author of Altruism: The Power of Compassion to Transform Ourselves and the World
The science is in: being good is actually good for you. In this bracingly original book, The Biology of Kindness—the first in a trilogy on the topic of daily wellness—the science of mindfulness and the findings of biology come together to show how kindness and optimism improve ...
Enhanced stability of tristetraprolin promotes bone health and reduces frailty
2024-03-19
Alexandria, VA, USA – A study aiming to use a novel transgenic mouse model (TTP knock-in – TTPKI) that has a moderate elevation of TTP systemically to understand if there is a long-term benefit for bone health, thus contributing towards healthy aging was presented at the 102nd General Session of the IADR, which was held in conjunction with the 53rd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Dental, Oral, and Craniofacial Research and the 48th Annual Meeting of the Canadian Association for Dental Research, on March 13-16, 2024, in New Orleans, ...
Happiness poll: Democrats and Diden voters report more happiness than GOP and Trump supporters
2024-03-19
Voters of the Democratic party and U.S. President Joe Biden are happier than voters for the Republican party and former U.S. President Donald Trump, while older and wealthier adult voters are happier than younger and less-wealthy ones, according to a new Florida Atlantic University PolCom and Mainstreet Research happiness poll released today in advance of the United Nation’s International Day of Happiness on March 20.
“Happiness is important to understand as it influences the well-being and satisfaction of citizens, which in turn shapes their voting behavior,” said Carol Bishop Mills, Ph.D., FAU’s communication professor, PolCom co-director, and expert in relational ...
LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:
Sensing sickness
Cost to build multifamily housing in California more than twice as high as in Texas
Program takes aim at drinking, unsafe sex, and sexual assault on college campuses
Inability to pay for healthcare reaches record high in U.S.
Science ‘storytelling’ urgently needed amid climate and biodiversity crisis
KAIST Develops Retinal Therapy to Restore Lost Vision
Adipocyte-hepatocyte signaling mechanism uncovered in endoplasmic reticulum stress response
Mammals were adapting from life in the trees to living on the ground before dinosaur-killing asteroid
Low LDL cholesterol levels linked to reduced risk of dementia
Thickening of the eye’s retina associated with greater risk and severity of postoperative delirium in older patients
Almost one in ten people surveyed report having been harmed by the NHS in the last three years
Enhancing light control with complex frequency excitations
New research finds novel drug target for acute myeloid leukemia, bringing hope for cancer patients
New insight into factors associated with a common disease among dogs and humans
Illuminating single atoms for sustainable propylene production
New study finds Rocky Mountain snow contamination
Study examines lactation in critically ill patients
UVA Engineering Dean Jennifer West earns AIMBE’s 2025 Pierre Galletti Award
Doubling down on metasurfaces
New Cedars-Sinai study shows how specialized diet can improve gut disorders
Making moves and hitting the breaks: Owl journeys surprise researchers in western Montana
PKU Scientists simulate the origin and evolution of the North Atlantic Oscillation
ICRAFT breakthrough: Unlocking A20’s dual role in cancer immunotherapy
How VR technology is changing the game for Alzheimer’s disease
A borrowed bacterial gene allowed some marine diatoms to live on a seaweed diet
Balance between two competing nerve proteins deters symptoms of autism in mice
Use of antifungals in agriculture may increase resistance in an infectious yeast
Awareness grows of cancer risk from alcohol consumption, survey finds
The experts that can outsmart optical illusions
Pregnancy may reduce long COVID risk
[Press-News.org] In the fight against breast cancer, UMass Amherst researchers identify malignancy hibernation as the next battlegroundChemical engineers at the university find less than 1% of studies examine the phenomenon