This trick boosts cancer’s spread
By Janet Raloff
From Washington, D.C., at the Experimental Biology 2007 Conference
A molecule on the surface of most cells keeps them tightly stitched together into well-organized tissues. Because such order prevents the cells from growing excessively or leaving the tissue, spreading cancer cells turn off the production of this molecule, called E-cadherin. A new study shows that, contrary to conventional medical wisdom, that shutdown isn’t permanent.
And that could be bad news.
The loss of E-cadherin makes a cancer cell resemble a stem cell in its capacity to assume any tissue type, notes University of Pittsburgh pathologist Alan Wells. It also makes those cells look different from those in normal tissues.