Mechanism Which Influences Aggressiveness of Breast Cancer Identified

Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) revealed that they have identified a mechanism using which the mitochondria of a breast cancer cell controls the tumor's aggressiveness.

Based on their findings, the team developed a simple treatment that inhibits cancer progression and prolongs life when tested in mice.

The research team hopes to proceed quickly to human clinical trials to test this new approach using drugs already in use for other conditions.

The TSRI laboratory of Associate Professor Brunhilde H. Felding studies cancer, especially the mechanisms that control metastasis, the spread of cancer from its primary site to distant organs in the body.

Past research suggested that mutations affecting mitochondria, which are key to energy production in cells, strongly influence whether a tumor becomes aggressive. But the mechanism was not clear.

"We decided to investigate a specific protein complex, called mitochondrial complex I, that critically determines the energy output of cellular respiration," study's first author, Antonio F. Santidrian, a research associate in Felding's laboratory said.

To do this, the group teamed up with Akemi and Takao Yagi at TSRI, who are leading experts in complex I research.

Using unique reagents from the Yagi group, the Felding team discovered that the balance of key metabolic cofactors processed by complex I-specifically, nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD+) and NADH, the form it takes after accepting a key electron in the energy production cycle-was disturbed in aggressive breast cancer cells.

To find out if the balance of NAD+ and NADH was critical for tumor cell behavior, the team proceeded to insert a yeast gene into cancer cells that caused a shift toward more NAD+.

To the scientists' amazement, this shift caused the tumor cells to become less aggressive.

To confirm and extend the initial findings, the team altered genes tied to NAD+ production.

The resulting shift again showed that higher NADH levels meant more aggressive tumors, while increased NAD+ had the opposite effect.

The findings are published online by The Journal of Clinical Investigation.

Source: ANI