CDI Miami | Thursday May 18, 2017

Breast Cancer Relapse Linked to Fat Metabolism

Cancer is no longer a death sentence; it is now possible to successfully treat a range of cancer types and, consequently, survival rates are on the up.

In breast cancer, for instance, the 5-year survival rate is 89 percent, and the 10-year survival rate is 83 percent. In fact, according to one study, the 10-year survival rate for breast cancer has tripled in the past 60 years.

As primary care improves and our knowledge of the disease grows, rates are likely to improve steadily. However, breast cancer is still “the second leading cause of cancer-related death in women.”

Although advances in treating breast cancer are constantly being made, one particular facet of the disease is particularly difficult to understand and prevent: relapse.

Understanding breast cancer relapse

Although improved cancer treatments mean that many patients survive the initial tumor, relapse is now the leading cause of death among breast cancer patients.

Surgical removal of malignant tissue and chemotherapy both aim to destroy cancerous cells but, often, some residual cells will survive. These surviving cells can lead to a regrowth further down the line.

The difficulty is that these cells do not seem harmful until they reinitiate growth. This makes preempting relapse extremely difficult and, because the cells appear normal, isolating them and studying the process is also challenging.

A paper, published this week in the Journal of Clinical Investigation, gives new insight into this process and promises to make identifying these cells a possibility.

Researchers from the European Molecular Biology Laboratory, led by Martin Jechlinger, examined the gene transcription profiles and metabolism pathways in these residual cells. “We found that residual cells have molecular traits that clearly distinguish them from normal breast tissue, and seem to cause relapse.”

Relapse and lipid metabolism

The researchers identified a chemical signature in the way that residual cells metabolized lipids. The altered process contributed to maintaining high levels of reactive oxygen species, which are molecules known to harm DNA. The team believes that this may play in triggering a relapse.

To investigate the importance of these metabolic changes, the team reversed the alterations.
Having identified this difference in residual cells, they compared their findings in mice and organoids with pre- and post-treatment biopsies from breast cancer patients. In this task, they received help from the National Centre for Tumor Diseases in Heidelberg, Germany, and the European Institute of Oncology in Milan, Italy. As expected, the results were replicated: the same alterations in fat metabolism were observed in the human tissue.

Get your yearly 3d mammogram and breast cancer screening at CBCC! Early detection is the best way to fight breast cancer. Call 800-371-0002 to schedule your appointment. The Center for Diagnostic Imaging in Miami also offers advanced MRIs, CT Scans, and more.

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