The natural adaptive evolution of cancer

In the article "The natural adaptive evolution of cancer: The metastatic ability of cancer cells" authors from University of Medicine and Pharmacy Timisoara, Timisoara, Romania, analyze the literature regarding the ability of cancer cells to metastasize and propose a novel mechanism by which cancer cells can spread throughout the body. We present you the very first video summary of the article published in BJBMS.

What this study is about?

On the global scale, the burden of cancer is on the rise. Tremendous steps have been taken to combat this disease, in the field of research. Unfortunately, more steps are needed. The ability of cancer to spread to distant sites in the human body is the main path through which cancer exerts its deadliness.

Currently, three main pathways try to explain the ability of cancer to metastasize, but neither one of them fully explaining all the observations noted by scientists studying this disease. In any medical breakthrough, a change of paradigm is a necessity, a new approach to viewing this malady is needed. In this study of the current status quo of the capacity of cancer to spread is analyzed, and a new theory of spread is proposed.

This theory describes the nucleus of the cancer cell as a harbinger of metastatic spread. In some circumstances of cellular stress, as low oxygen availability, the cancer cell will eject its nucleus as a last desperate attempt to survive. Once eject this nucleus would be engulfed by macrophages, that are normally found in the microscopic environment of the tumor. This engulfment would lead to a fusion between the nucleus and the macrophage that would generate a new type of cell, a carcinoma fusion cell. This newly generated cell would have the ability to spread anywhere in the body, thus giving rise to metastasis.

If the new scientific hypothesis regarding this ability of cancer to metastasize is confirmed, through careful scientific studies, then the paradigm will shift and a myriad of medical breakthroughs can be expected.

Video summary of the article: www.youtube.com/watch?v=lMk6qeuSkVQ

More information:
Olteanu G-E, Mihai I-M, Bojin F, Gavriliuc O, Paunescu V. The natural adaptive evolution of cancer: The metastatic ability of cancer cells. Biomol Biomed [Internet]. 2020Aug.3 [cited 2023May4];20(3):303-9. DOI: bjbms.org/ojs/index.php/bjbms/article/view/4565

Provided by Association of Basic Medical Sciences of FBIH