InfoGrok, a leading pharmaceutical news website reveals that new research on how skin cancer begins has identified adjacent cancer cells that scientists are calling co-conspirators in the genesis of melanoma, in findings that could someday hold the key to predicting, preventing and stopping this hard-to-treat cancer before it spreads.
Changes in the body’s pigment-producing cells, where melanoma – the most dangerous form of skin cancer – takes hold are only part of the story, according to a new study by researchers from Oregon State University (OSU).
According to senior industry scientists, other skin cells in what is called the micro-environment of the cancer also play a key role.
The adjacent cells, which are in fact called keratinocytes, are the drivers for the changes and malignant transformation in the pigment-producing cells, which are melanocytes, said Mr Indra, an Assistant Professor in the OSU College of Pharmacy.
Mr Indra said, “So there are two avenues – the pigment-producing cells where the cancer develops, and the adjacent skin cells which talk to the pigment-producing cells in the form of signals,”. “ They are partners in crime, they work in coordination.”
Research was done with both animal models and human samples, from individuals who carry a mutation in a gene called Cdk4, which is an inherited predisposition to melanoma that has turned up in families in Norway, France, Australia and England.
The study found that a protein called RXR-alpha in skin keratinocytes appears to protect pigment cells from any damage, and also prevent them from progressing to invasive melanoma.The protein in skin cells sends a chemical signal to the pigment cells, Mr Indra said.
The study revealed that these signals can prevent or block the abnormal proliferation of pigment-producing cells in laboratory mice. Conversely, when the protein was repressed, or removed, cancerous melanoma cells became aggressive and invaded the animals’ lymph nodes.
However, both the protective protein and pigment cells can suffer damage from chemical toxins or ultraviolet sunlight in the pigment cells, creating a double-edged sword in melanoma’s complex etiology, according to Mr Indra.
To study melanoma cells in isolation from their surrounding biochemical and molecular environment is to miss the intricate series of related interactions that give rise to the disease, Mr Indra said.
“The finding could lead to promising prevention tools further down the road. Better understanding this process will help us design new and novel strategies for prevention and, possibly, a cure,” Mr Indra said.
“This could be a predictive prognostic tool for discovering predisposition to melanoma in humans. That could lead to better and earlier diagnostics.”
For more pharmaceutical industry news please visit InfoGrok.com.
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