Sat, Nov-17-18, 06:15
|
 |
|
|
Plan: Muscle Centric
Stats: 238/153/160
BF:
Progress: 109%
Location: UK
|
|
Lung Cancer Has A Sweet Tooth
Quote:
Lung Cancer Has A Sweet Tooth: Sugar Delivery Fuels Early Tumor Growth
Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is the most common type of lung cancer and the leading cause of cancer-related death world wide. Early diagnosis and treatment provide the best opportunity for survival, but the prognosis becomes increasingly poor as the cancer spreads. Unfortunately, in the majority of cases, by the time symptoms appear and a diagnosis is made, the cancer has already begun to spread.
Not only would it be good to be able to detect tiny cancerous lesions while they are still localized and more easily removable by surgery, but it would be even better to be able to detect pre-cancerous lesions (clusters of cells heading in the direction of cancer but which have not yet turned malignant).
Of course, detecting NSCLC before it grows and spreads is particularly difficult. At this stage pre-cancerous lesions or newly cancerous tumors tend to be too small to detect, much less cause symptoms. But now researchers at UCLA have discovered that early stage NSCLC tumors, and even pre-cancerous lesions, give themselves away by producing unusually high levels of a molecule called SGLT2 (Sodium Glucose Transporter 2).
It’s been known for a while that cancer cells have a sweet tooth. That is, they consume glucose at a higher rate than healthy cells to help fuel their growth. Research has shown that molecules called passive glucose transporters, or GLUTs, are used as sugar delivery vehicles that help transport glucose to tumors. Indeed, established tumors tend to produce high levels of GLUTs for this particular purpose. However, recent studies have shown that GLUTs may not be the only sugar suppliers tumors make use of. It seems prostate and pancreatic cancers also use SGLT2 (Sodium Glucose Transporter 2) in order to consume sugar.
This caused David Shackleford and Claudio Scafoglio at UCLA’s Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center to wonder if the same were true for lung cancers, particularly early stage NSCLCs.
Together with their colleagues, they made a radiolabeled tracer that specifically binds only to SGLT2 and then used positron emission tomography (PET scans) to see where those tracers ended up in mice with NSCLC. They also examined levels of SGLT2 in samples of human lung cancers.
They found that SGLT2 is not only produced in lung cancer but specifically produced at high levels in early stage NSCLC tumors and pre-cancerous lesions. It seems SGLT2 is the preferred sugar transporter in the early stages of NSCLC development.
This provides an interesting opportunity for detecting the presence of pre-cancerous or early stage NSCLC by looking for unusual levels of SGLT2 activity, say the authors in their new paper published in the journal Science Translational Medicine.
Moreover, they were also able to show that a class of diabetes drugs called gliflozins, which block the activity of SGLT2, are able to hinder tumor progression in mice.
Specifically, they found that gliflozins are able to target pre-cancerous lesions and early stage lung adenocarcinoma (a type of NSCLC) in mice and, in so doing, reduce tumor growth and extend survival compared to placebo.
Unfortunately, in one of the experiments the treated tumors eventually found a way around the SGLT2 inhibitors. But, interestingly, it seems the tumors may have been compensating by further increasing levels of SGLT2 (in other words, by making more SGLT2 than the drug dose could block).
As the authors explain in their paper, the findings suggest that SGLT2 is particularly critical for sugar transport in early development of NSCLC, and may help the tumors progress from pre-cancerous state to an invasive cancer. Thus, there is potential for further exploring the SGLT2 pathway to develop early-stage therapeutic interventions that could prevent or delay the development of malignant NSCLC.
Original Research:
Scafoglio, C et al (2018) Sodium-glucose transporter 2 is a diagnostic and therapeutic target for early-stage lung adenocarcinoma. Science Translational Medicine. Vol. 10, Issue 467, eaat5933
|
https://www.forbes.com/sites/fionam...h/#4e15ed95310a |
Linear Mode
