A team at the Cancer Research UK London Research Institute, identified a critical pathway of molecular signals which throw a lifeline to cancer cells, enabling them to survive even though they contain vast DNA errors which would usually trigger cell death. The findings, published in Nature Communications, revealed that cancer cells use a new line of defense to evade cell death.

The PKCƐ signal pathway, which prevails in cancer cells but rarely in normal cells, could be important in targeting some cancer cells as they rely on this pathway to survive. The pathway assists the cancer cells in untangling and separating their DNA, ensuring they continue to survive. As shown from study, the pathway can overcome that survival challenge of cancer cells that DNA is more jumbled and prone to becoming tangled.

A major finding

The researchers found that turning off the pathway can trigger cancer cells to self-destruct. It is because the machinery used to untangle the DNA fails, meaning it is torn apart as the cell divides — ravaging and causing huge breaks in the code which lead to the cancer cells’ demise.

As a researcher said, halting this line of defence could be a powerful way to target the disease and re-program cancer cells to self-destruct. The next step is to understand which cancer types have this weak point and to look for a marker that will allow us to test patients for cancers with this flaw.

Although there is still a lot of work to do before this research leads to a new cancer treatment, it offers us a new strategy to beat the disease by helping us to understand what causes and drives cancer.

Reference:

Mitotic catenation is monitored and resolved by a PKCε-regulated pathway. Nature Communications, December 2014