A team from the National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO) has discovered a luminous property of tumor stem cells that help trace the source of resistance to chemotherapy and develop treatments against these cells. According to the study, published in the journal Nature Methods, these cells accumulate in your body riboflavin or vitamin B2, a pigment that emits green fluorescence as a result of their accumulation in intracellular vesicles.
The cancer stem cells have been identified in recent years as responsible for the origin of cancer and resistance to conventional chemotherapies. Now, a team of National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO) found that these cells have a property that allows light track them easily.
The reason for this peculiarity is that these cells accumulate in your body or riboflavin Vitamin B2, a pigment that emits green fluorescence as a result of their accumulation in intracellular vesicles.
“The discovery of this new marker is a breakthrough because it identifies tumor stem cells are more invasive and chemoresistant. The autofluorescence of these cells allow tracking them in an easy, simple and cheap way, and to study the origin of the chemoresistance of tumors, “says Irene Miranda, one of the authors of the study published in the latest issue of the magazine Nature Methods.
This discovery could boost personalized medicine of the future and the development of more effective cancer treatments. “From now on autofluorescence can isolate cells from a biopsy and test its sensitivity to a panel of experimental or marketed drugs and” say Sainz and Heeschen, other authors.
Only between 1% and 2% of the entire tumor mass is made up of tumor stem cells. Such a small percentage hinders their isolation and analysis, and the study of the origin of drug resistance.
“The discovery of the new marker will allow identify tumor stem cells quickly, easily and cheaply “, scientists
” Normally we only see the leaves of the tree representing tumors and can not make out the roots, which are the Authentic responsible for their progression and growth, “Miranda said.
Drug Development
The discovery has been made in several tumor types, including samples from patients with pancreatic, liver, colon and lung cancer, raises a question: Why tumor stem cells accumulate vitamin B2
The researchers show in the article that is due to an increase in? ABCG2 protein, responsible for the transport of vitamin inward conferring intracellular vesicles brightness cells. The reason for this phenomenon is yet to be determined.
Despite the unknowns about its nature, the researchers emphasize that this discovery will accelerate the identification of new drugs or combinations thereof that are capable of removing stem cells cancer in a particular patient
References:.
Irene Miranda-Lorenzo et al . “Intracellular autofluorescence: a biomarker for epithelial cancer stem cells.” Nature Methods (2014). doi: 10.1038 / nmeth.3112
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