A University of Liverpool team published in the journal Gut a study that could offer a new lead on possible reason why pancreatic cancer is such an aggressive disease.
It can be hard to spot as the pancreas is located deep inside the body. Although surgery can sometimes cure the cancer, only 9% of patients have the intervention.
"Pancreatic cancer is often detected at an advanced stage, and there is an urgent need for effective treatment", Dr Lesley Walker, of the charity Cancer Research UK, who founded the study, said.
The team found a family of proteins involved in regulating cell movement, which the study suggested they may facilitate the spread of pancreatic cancer cells in the body.
The proteins named CapG and Gelsolin were located in some tissue samples from cancerous and normal cells. In the cancerous tissue the concentration of the proteins was abnormally high.
The team led by Dr. Eithne Costello reduced the amounts of CapG and Gelsolin in pancreatic cancer cells and found that limited the cells' ability to spread.
"These proteins may play a fundamental role in the aggressive spread and growth of pancreatic tumours. We now have a good idea about CapG's and Gelsolin's involvement in tumour spread, but we need to find out their precise contributions to provide us with important leads for new approaches to treatment" said Dr Eithne Costello.
The research showed that the amount of CapG found in the nucleus of the cancerous cells was proportional to the size of the tumor and that if the level of Gelsolin proteins was low, the patients hade a better chance of healing.
Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/6203033.stm
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