Cell mutations can help prevent cancer as well as cause it, according to a new study of oesophageal disease.
Dr Bartomeu Colom of the Wellcome Sanger Institute at the University of Cambridge, UK, and colleagues looked at oesophagus cells from mice using 3D imaging techniques.
They examined early stage tumour cells and found a protective role in tumour prevention for bodily cells carrying mutations. These ‘mutant clones’ appear to out-compete early tumours so cancer does not develop, the researchers say.
A high density of mutant clones in the oesophagus "creates a highly competitive environment" in which early tumours are "swept out of the tissue by the surrounding mutant cells", say the researchers.
Their paper is published in Nature. The authors add that despite this mechanism, early tumours can survive and develop into oesophageal cancer. Hence the survival of early tumours must also depend on the specific mutations in the nearby healthy tissue, they believe.
Their finding highlights the dual role of mutations in cancer, both protective and harmful, and the team will follow this up with tests on human tissue.
Dr Colom says: “Studying the highly competitive environment of the oesophagus and how cells interact and evolve to survive here has given us new insight into how the surrounding cells impact the ability of early tumours to progress in mice. If we understand these interactions fully, it could lead to new ways to prevent early tumours from growing into cancers.”
Co-author Dr Albert Herms, adds: “In this study we uncovered a new mechanism of protection against cancer that oesophageal tissues use, which is the competition for the space between cancer-driving cells and their neighbour mutant cells.”
Colom, B. et al. Mutant clones in normal epithelium outcompete and eliminate emerging tumours. Nature 13 October 2021; doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-03965-7
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