Nat cell biol: by accident, some breast cancers can prevent their own metastasis

August 30, 2018 / BIOON / - now it is difficult to develop therapies that can cure breast cancer due to a lack of understanding of the biological mechanisms that control breast cancer metastasis Metastasis initiating cancer cells (MICs) are a unique group of cells with the ability to establish metastasis, cause tumor recurrence and treat drug resistance Recently, researchers from Brigham women's Hospital and other units have used a series of metastasis models to find that the inflammatory process of some primary tumors involves the infiltration of innate immune cells expressing IL-1 β in the remote mic microenvironment The related research results were recently published in nature cell biology, entitled "IL-1 β informational response driven by primary breast cancer precautions metastasis initiating cell condensation" Photo source: nature cell biology researchers found that in the metastasis site, IL-1 β maintained MICs in a ZEB1 positive differentiation state, thus preventing MICs from producing highly proliferative E-cadherin positive offspring Therefore, when the inherent plasticity of MICs is blocked, metastasis cannot be formed The researchers found that clearing the pre-inflammatory response or inhibiting the IL-1 receptor could reverse this differentiation and lead to the formation of metastasis In lymph node positive breast cancer patients, high expression of IL-1 β in primary cancer is associated with better overall survival and longer survival without distant metastasis In general, the researchers found that the complex interaction between the primary tumor and the distal infiltrating MICs can prevent the formation of the primary focus, so they can explore ways to use these interactions to improve the survival rate of patients Reference: Sandra S McAllister et al IL-1 β informational response driven by primary breast cancer precautions metastasis initiating cell condensation Nature cell biology 2018-08-27, DOI: 10.1038/s41556-018-0173-5