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Basel researchers identify drug against the formation of metastasis

The most deadly aspect of breast cancer is metastasis. It spreads cancer cells throughout the body. Researchers at the University of Basel and the University Hospital of Basel have now discovered a substance that suppresses the formation of metastases. In the journal Cell, the team of molecular biologists, computational biologists, and clinicians reports on their interdisciplinary approach.

10 January 2019

The image represents an artistic coloration of a cluster of circulating tumor cells (CTCs), isolated from the blood of a patient with breast cancer, trapped on a microfluidic device.
The image represents an artistic coloration of a cluster of circulating tumor cells (CTCs), isolated from the blood of a patient with breast cancer, trapped on a microfluidic device. © M Oeggerli / Micronaut 2018, supported by Pathology-, C-CINA / Biozentrum-, and I Krol, and N Aceto, Faculty of Medicine-, University Hospital and University Basel.

The development of metastasis is responsible for more than 90% of cancer-related deaths, and patients with a metastatic disease are considered incurable. The interdisciplinary team led by Prof. Nicola Aceto from the Department of Biomedicine at the University of Basel has identified a drug that suppresses the spread of malignant cancer cells and their metastasis-seeding ability.

Precursors of metastases: Circulating tumor cell clusters

Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) are cancer cells that leave a primary tumor and enter the bloodstream, on their way to seeding distant metastases. These so-called CTCs can be found in the blood of patients as single cells or cell clusters. CTC clusters are the precursors of metastases. The Basel research team has discovered that CTC cluster formation leads to key epigenetic changes that facilitate metastasis seeding. These changes enable CTC clusters to mimic some properties of embryonic stem cells, including their ability to proliferate while retaining tissue-forming capabilities. The scientists have also shown that these epigenetic changes are fully reversible upon the dissociation of CTC clusters.

In their search for a substance that suppresses metastasis development, the research team tested 2486 FDA-approved compounds used for a number of different indications. They found inhibitors with the unexpected ability to dissociate patient-derived CTC clusters. This drug-based dissociation of CTC clusters into individual cells also resulted into epigenetic remodeling and prevented the formation of new metastases.

Preventing metastasis versus killing cancer cells

”We thought of acting differently from standard approaches, and sought to identify drugs that do not kill cancer cells, but simply dissociate them,” states Nicola Aceto, holder of an ERC starting grant and SNSF professorship.

Cover story

The accompanying image was chosen as cover story for the current issue of Cell. On our Sci Five blog, science photographer Martin Oeggerli reports on his collaboration with Nicola Aceto and team.

Original source

Sofia Gkountela, Francesc Castro-Giner, Barbara Maria Szczerba, Marcus Vetter, Julia Landin, Ramona Scherrer, Ilona Krol, Manuel C. Scheidmann, Christian Beisel, Christian U. Stirnimann, Christian Kurzeder, Viola Heinzelmann-Schwarz, Christoph Rochlitz, Walter Paul Weber, Nicola Aceto 
Circulating Tumor Cell Clustering Shapes DNA Methylation to Enable Metastasis Seeding
Cell (2019), doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2018.11.046


Further information

Prof. Dr. Nicola Aceto, University of Basel and University Hospital of Basel, Department of Biomedicine, Tel. +41 61 207 07 73, email: Nicola.Aceto@unibas.ch

Images

A high-resolution image for this press release is available in the media database

 

Further information

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