"cancer metastasis mechanisms": The Science Behind Aggressive Cancer Metastases Unveiled by Researchers

Breast Cancer Metastasis: Researchers Discover a Way to Prevent Secondary Tumors Breast cancer is a devastating disease that affects millions of women worldwide. One of the most challenging aspects of breast cancer is its ability to spread to other organs, which usually heralds a poorer prognosis. However, researchers at the University and University Hospital of Basel have discovered a process that helps breast cancer cells implant themselves in certain places in the body. The results suggest a way of preventing secondary tumors. For eight years, a team led by Professor Mohamed Bentires-Alj worked to establish the role of a cellular enzyme in breast cancer metastasis. The team discovered a mechanism that appears to support metastasis in a range of aggressive cancers and reported their findings in the Embo Journal. The cascade of effects that can have wide-ranging and unexpected consequences on more distant parts of the network can contribute to our understanding of how a minor defect in a cell's system can lead to diseases like cancer. These insights offer ideas for new treatments. Bentires-Alj's research team elucidated one of these cascades. It begins with a metabolic enzyme called nicotinamide N-methyltransferase or NNMT for short. And it ends with the substance that fills the space between the body's cells and holds them together: collagen. Collagen is actually a good thing, but in the case of metastatic cancer, it betrays the body and helps cancer cells embed themselves in new tissues. "Triple negative" breast cancer, which affects roughly 15 percent of all breast cancer patients, is particularly aggressive because it often spreads throughout the body and forms lung and brain metastases. These breast cancer cells produce unusually high amounts of NNMT. As the researchers learned through experiments on animals, overproduction of NNMT is key to the metastasis. The answer is found at the end of the cascade, with collagen. As the Basel research team reports, overproduction of NNMT causes the cancer cells to also produce more collagen than normal. It is known from previous studies that wandering cancer cells first have to find their way around in new tissues. The environment there – that is, the semiochemicals and available nutrients and oxygen – is different from that of the original tumor. In this preliminary stage of metastasis, the collagen in the new tissue helps the cancer cells survive and adapt. What the new study found: particularly aggressively metastasizing breast cancer cells not only produce an excessive amount of NNMT but also their own collagen. This ability makes them less dependent on the collagen of the new tissue, so it's even easier for the cancer cells to entrench themselves. When the researchers removed NNMT from aggressive breast cancer cells and injected these cells into mice, the animals developed hardly any metastases. The cells also produced hardly any collagen. A literature review also found that overproduction of NNMT is characteristic of a whole range of aggressive cancers – meaning it could be a universally important key factor in cancer metastasis. "Next, we want to test whether existing NNMT inhibitors can also stop metastases in mouse models and whether they have any side effects," explains Mohamed Bentires-Alj. Following further development of NNMT targeting agents, the first studies in human patients could follow. In conclusion, the discovery of the role of NNMT in breast cancer metastasis could potentially lead to the development of new treatments that prevent secondary tumors. This research is a significant step forward in the fight against breast cancer, and the hope is that it will lead to better outcomes for patients in the future.

1. Cancer metastasis
2. Tumor progression
3. Cancer cell migration
4. Cancer cell invasion
5. Cancer metastasis pathways

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