Swiss scientists managed to transform cancer cells into fat, and thus stop the metastasis , thanks to the action of two drugs.
In the study, published in the journal Cancer Cell , experts claim to have shown that the effects of the antitumor drug Trametinib and the antidiabetic drug Rosiglitazone in mice.
According to researchers from the Department of Biomedicine of the University of Basel (Switzerland), these drugs, which have low toxicity, allowed breast tumors to become harmless fat in rodents, which had been grafted triple tumors negative, the most aggressive breast cancer.
What the researchers did was to attack the cancer just when the cells made the epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT).
A set of cellular processes that allow the conversion of epithelial cells into mesenchymal cells (can lead to several types of cells in skeletal tissues), causing them to detach and move through the body. Blood flow.
In addition, the EMT is vital for the development of an embryo , as well as for the formation of organs and tissues.
University of Basel
But not only that, since it also has an important role in tumor proliferation, because it causes the epithelial tumor cells to become mesenchymal.
In that sense, Trametinib together with Rosiglitazone would prevent the proliferation of the breast tumor, as well as metastasis, because it hinders the transition, turning cancer cells into adipocytes (fat).
Professor Gerhard Christofori, leader of the team, explained that in the future, this innovative method could be used “in combination with conventional chemotherapy to suppress both the growth of the primary tumor and the formation of deadly metastases.”
For his part, Miguel Ángel Quintela, director of the Breast Cancer Unit of the National Center for Oncological Research (CNIO), told El País from Spain that it is “very preliminary results, but they are important because they represent a new novel therapeutic pathway” .
“The logical thing is to continue investigating. There is a good basis for taking it to humans because it only requires two drugs already approved for other uses, both with low toxicity, “he added.
