Melanoma: Keeping these molecules apart could stop cancer spread
22 November, 2018
The interaction between two particular molecules may be the reason why melanoma tumors grow and are likely to spread to other parts of the body.
This is the conclusion that researchers at the University of Tokyo in Japan reached after studying these molecules in cells and mice.
One of the molecules is called tissue plasminogen activator (tPA). This small protein functions as a protease, which is an enzyme that cuts up proteins.
The other molecule is a large protein called low-density lipoprotein receptor-related protein 1 (LRP1). LRP1 sits inside the membrane that surrounds animal cells, and tPA binds to it.
The FASEB Journal has published the results of the study, which suggest that targeting the tPA-LRP1 pathway "may be a novel treatment strategy in combination treatments for melanoma."
Previous research had already implicated LRP1 in a number of chronic diseases, such as obesity, Alzheimer's, and diabetes.
"It's surprising," says Dr. Beate Heissig, who is an associate professor in the Institute of Medical Science at the University of Tokyo and led this new research, "that LRP1 is also regulating cancer growth and spread. It's normally a receptor for fat molecules."
Melanoma and metastatic disease
According to the National Cancer Institute (NCI), there are more than 1.2 million people living with melanoma of the skin in the United States.
The NCI estimate that doctors will diagnose 91,270 cases of the disease in 2018 and that this figure will account for 5.3 percent of all new cancer diagnoses.
Rates of melanoma in the U.S. have risen steadily in the last couple of decades. In 1995, the number of newly diagnosed cases per 100,000 people was 16.5. By 2015, this figure had reached 25.8.
The most recent statistics for the U.S. suggest that 91.8 percent of people with melanoma will live for at least 5 years after diagnosis.
Based on NCI data from 2013–2015, approximately 2.3 percent of men and women will have melanoma of the skin at some stage in their lives.
Melanoma develops in melanocytes, a type of skin cell that makes melanin, which is a brown pigment that gives skin its color and protects its inner layers from sun damage.
Of the various forms of skin cancer, melanoma is the one that is most likely to spread to neighboring tissue and other places in the body. This tendency to spread, or metastasize, is what makes melanoma the most deadly type of skin cancer.
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