Down regulating an enzyme may prevent cancer from killing people

Washington, January 15 (ANI): A team of researchers lead by scientists at Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry has shown that down regulation of an enzyme called phospholipase C?1 (PLC?1) can revert metastasis progression of cancer-the spread of cancer cells from a primary site to form tumours at distant sites.

The researchers investigated the role of PLC?1 in cell invasion and metastasis using different approaches to modulate its expression in highly invasive cancer cell lines, and found that the enzyme is required for breast cancer cell invasion and activation of the protein Rac1.

They also found a functional link between PLC?1 and Rac1 that provides insight into processes regulating cell invasion.

Professor Marco Falasca, who led the research team, said: "Consistent with these data we detected an increase in PLC1 expression in metastases compared to primary tumours in breast cancer patients. Therefore PLC?1 is critical for metastasis formation, and development and inhibition of this enzyme has a therapeutic potential in the treatment of metastasis dissemination."

The researcher added: "This is an exciting discovery. He has shown that turning off this molecule prevents metastasis. The simple fact is that if you stop metastasis, you stop cancer from killing people. We now need to focus on developing drugs that can block PLC?1."

The study has been published in the journal Cancer Research. (ANI)