Insight in to the breast cancer growth mechanism

Thanks to the efforts of researchers from the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute researchers, now we have more insight in to the breast cancer growth mechanism and more information on how breast cancer grows and migrates.

The researchers discovered new evidence and information about how the microenvironment of breast cancers that helps drive the cancers' growth and migration. Using a super-efficient method the researchers searched for a type of cancer-related change in all genes of a cell. It was no surpise for the researchers to find that the population of normal cells around the growing cancer cells known as the micro-environment undergoes epigenetic modifications that affect genetic function and are passed to the cell's offspring, but don't alter a gene's actual structure or DNA.

The subtly altered gene functions send signals to the breast tumor cells to grow quickly and become more aggressive.

As per the researchers this is the first demonstration that epigenetic (changes) occur in the supportive cells and microenviroment of a tumor, and this further emphasizes that surrounding cells or the microenvironment play an active role in cancer formation and growth, said the study's lead author Dr. Kornelia Polyak. She said detection of the epigenetic alterations may provide a means of early cancer diagnosis or even predicting cancer risk.

The research at http://www.nature.com/ng

Cancer terms:
Micrometastasis: This term refers to very small metastasis in a tissue. Usually this is found only by special techniques and often involves only few cells. The significance of micrometastasis is not as well characterized as regular larger metastasis