One of "the most important findings" about cancer metastasis could revolutionise current thinking, British researchers have announced.
Researchers at the Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute, University of Cambridge, found blocking the activity of the sodium leak channel, non-selective (NALCN) protein, in cells in mice, which had gastric, pancreatic or intestinal primary tumours, triggers metastasis.
They also found this process is not just restricted to cancer: when they removed NALCN from mice without cancer, this caused their healthy cells to leave their original tissue and travel around the body where they joined other organs.
In one example, they saw healthy cells migrate from the pancreas to the kidney where they became healthy kidney cells, which, they suggest, means metastasis is not an abnormal process limited to cancer, but a normal process used by healthy cells that has been exploited by cancers to migrate to other parts of the body to generate metastases.
Their findings are published in Nature Genetics.
Professor Richard Gilbertson, study group leader and director of the Cancer Research UK Cambridge Centre, said: "These findings are among the most important to have come out of my lab for three decades.
"Not only have we identified one of the elusive drivers of metastasis, but we have also turned a commonly held understanding of this on its head, showing how cancer hijacks processes in healthy cells for its own gains.
"If validated through further research, this could have far-reaching implications for how we prevent cancer from spreading and allow us to manipulate this process to repair damaged organs."
Now NALCN’s role in metastasis has been identified, the team are investigating various ways to restore its function, including using existing drugs on the market.
Dr Eric Rahrmann, study lead researcher and senior research associate at the Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute, said: "We are incredibly excited to have identified a single protein that regulates not only how cancer spreads through the body, independent of tumour growth, but also normal tissue cell shedding and repair. We are developing a clearer picture on the processes that govern how cancer cells spread. We can now consider whether there are likely existing drugs which could be repurposed to prevent this mechanism from triggering cancer spreading in patients."
Dr Catherine Elliott, director of research at Cancer Research UK, which funded the study, added: "Discovering that a cancer has spread is always devastating news for patients and their families and so we are delighted to have supported this incredible research which may one day allow us to prevent metastasis and turn cancer into a much more survivable disease."
The NALCN channel regulates metastasis and nonmalignant cell dissemination Nature Genetics 29 September 2022
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