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Cancer: Tumors Use Fats To Pave The 'Roads' For Their Metastases
Cancer: Tumors Use Fats To Pave The 'Roads' For Their Metastases
CANCER
The metabolism of fats enables the formation of new lymphatic vessels that, like roads,
are used by tumors to expand and colonize other organs.
Today we have very effective treatments for most types of cancer, among others,
chemotherapy or radiotherapy, usually very effective in eliminating a tumor. The
problem is that when the original tumor expands and colonizes other organs - the
process called 'metastasis' - the usefulness of available treatments is very limited. In
fact, metastases account for almost 90% of cancer deaths. Such is the way that the
prevention of these tumor migrations is presented as one of the main challenges of the
current medicine. Hence the importance of a new study conducted by researchers at the
Catholic University of Leuven (Belgium), that show the way in which tumors use the
lymphatic vessels to extend through the body.
As Brian Wong, co-author of the research published in the journal Nature, explains our
study shows that the use of fatty acids by the lymphatic system is programmed in its
development and is necessary both for growth and for its functionality . And besides, we
have demonstrated that enhancing or preventing the use of fat or fat metabolites can
control the growth of lymphatic vessels.
Tumor roads
The authors have already noted in a recently published study that lymphatic vessels
'consume' higher amounts of fatty acids - or, in other words, 'fats' - than blood
vessels. Therefore, it can be assumed that the administration of drugs capable of
preventing the metabolism of fats by the lymphatic system would prevent the formation
of new vessels and, hence, the development of metastases. However, the mechanism by
which lymphatic vessels take advantage of the metabolism of fatty acids is very
complex.
In the new research, the authors analyzed how lymphatic vessels are formed. Initially,
blood vessels are transformed during embryonic development. A 'transformation' that,
among other consequences, causes lymphatic vessels to have a greater 'appetite' for fats
than blood.
Preventing the use of fats or its metabolites make possible to control the growth of
lymphatic vessels, as Brian explains:
The results showed that the transformation of blood vessel nodes requires an increase
in fat metabolism. Specifically, fats are used to generate molecules capable of
promoting epigenetic changes - alterations that, while not altering the DNA sequence,
modify the way in which the genes contained in this DNA are expressed. And these
changes, what are they for? Basically, to alter the production of proteins. And is that
according to the epigenetic pattern, will produce one protein or another. Thus, it
appears that, in this case, the patterns induced by the metabolism of fats give rise to
proteins that promote the formation of new lymphatic vessels.
In short, it seems that tumors need, if not directly, an increase in the metabolism of fatty
acids to be able to have new lymphatic vessels and, thus, colonize other organs.
Therefore, the next step for researchers will be conducting a study to assess whether
the use of drugs that inhibit the metabolism of fats can reduce metastases in various
cancers.
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