Scientists develop tool for treating diverse tumour cells found in metastatic gastric cancer

After defining extensive cellular heterogeneity, researchers from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center developed a tool that might be useful in stratifying patients with gastric cancer and directing them for more effective treatment strategies.

Based on the findings, published in Nature Medicine, the scientists developed and validated a gene expression signature capable of predicting patient survival better than other clinical features.

"In order to better treat patients with PC, we first have to understand the populations of metastatic cells in the peritoneal cavity," said co-corresponding author Linghua Wang, M.D., PhD, assistant professor of Genomic Medicine."This is the most detailed analysis of these cells performed to date. That is the power of single-cell analysis - we are able to look at every single cell and get a picture of the landscape," added Wang.

Peritoneal carcinomatosis is a condition in which cancer cells infiltrate and invade the peritoneal, or abdominal, cavity, adhering to the stomach and other organs.This can occur with other gastrointestinal cancers but is most commonly seen in patients with advanced gastric cancers, with roughly 45 per cent of patients diagnosed with PC at some point. The condition leads to significant fluid accumulation in the abdominal cavity, and patients have an overall survival of fewer than six months.

"PC represents a major unmet clinical need, as we don't have effective treatment options available for these patients," said co-corresponding author Jaffer Ajani, M.D., professor of Gastrointestinal Medical Oncology."Based on our findings, we need to move toward profiling these cells in each patient in order to offer more tailored treatment options," added Anjani.

For this study, the researchers isolated PC cells from ascites fluid collected from 20 patients with advanced gastric cancer. Ten of the patients were long-term survivors who survived more than one year after PC diagnosis, and 10 patients were short-term survivors who survived less than six months after PC diagnosis.

After performing single-cell RNA sequencing to analyze gene expression, the researchers were able to build the first "map" of PC cells, which describes the variety of cell types present and their functional states. The variability of cancer cells present within a tumour is known as intratumor heterogeneity, and it can lead to treatment failure and recurrence as distinct subtypes of cancer cells will respond differently to a given therapy.

The gene expression information also enabled the researchers to determine the origins of the PC cells, known as tumour cell lineage. They discovered that, although these were all gastric cancer cells, some appeared to originate from cells of the stomach while others more closely resembled cells of the intestine.

"The intriguing aspect is that, by classifying tumour cells based on lineage compositions, we noted two groups of patients," Wang said. "The more gastric-like PC cells had an aggressive phenotype and were associated with shorter survival. However, the more intestine-like PC cells were less aggressive, and patients had longer survival."

Based on these findings, the researchers developed a gene signature which robustly predicted patient survival better than various clinical features. They validated the signature in the second cohort of patients with advanced gastric cancer and PC and four large-scale localized gastric cancer cohorts totalling more than 1,300 patients.

Going forward, the researchers hope to validate the signature in prospective studies and to perform further analyses of PC cells in more patients to identify regulatory mechanisms of tumour cell lineage plasticity and new therapeutic targets that can be exploited to provide better treatment options for patients.

"This is an important first step toward a better understanding of the single-cell biology of these cancer cells, but we have more work to do. We foresee that understanding this heterogeneity could one day be used to guide clinical decision making that is most beneficial to each patient," Ajani said.

 This is only for your information, kindly take the advice of your doctor for medicines, exercises and so on.     

https://gscrochetdesigns.blogspot.com. one can see my crochet creations  
https://gseasyrecipes.blogspot.com. feel free to view for easy, simple and healthy recipes    
https://kneereplacement-stickclub.blogspot.com. for info on knee replacement

Ageing hinders development of cancer

Age can pose as a hindrance to development and further progression of cancer cells, a new study has found.

The findings of this study published  recently, has found that human ageing processes may hinder cancer development.

Ageing is one of the biggest risk factors for cancer. However, the biological mechanisms behind this link are still unclear.

Each cell in the human body is specialised to carry out certain tasks and will only need to express certain genes. Gene expression is the process by which specific genes are activated to produce a required protein.

Gene expression analyses have been used to study cancer and ageing, but only a few studies have investigated the relationship between gene expression changes in these two processes.

In an effort to better understand the biological mechanisms researchers compared how genes differentially expressed with age and genes differentially expressed in cancer among 9 human tissues.

Normally, a healthy cell can divide in a controlled manner. In contrast, a senescent or ' sleeping 'cells have lost their ability to divide.

As we age, the number of senescent cells in our bodies increase, which then drive many age-related processes and diseases.

Genetic mutations triggered by things such as UV exposure can sometimes cause cells to replicate uncontrollably- and uncontrolled cell growth is cancer.

Researcher found that in most of the tissues examined, ageing and cancer gene expression ' surprisingly' changed in the opposite direction.

These overlapping gene sets were related to several processes, mainly cell cycle and the immune system. Moreover, cellular senescence changed in the same direction as ageing and in the opposite direction of cancer signatures.

Researchers believe that the changes in ageing and cellular senescence might relate to a decrease in cell proliferation, while cancer changes shift towards an increase in cell division.

" One of the reasons our bodies have evolved to have senescent cells is to suppress cancers. But then it seems that senescent cells accumulate in aged human tissues and may contribute to ageing and degeneration.

Ageing tissues may hinder cell proliferation and consequently cancer, the study author added.

However, an alternative explanation comes from evolutionary biology. First author explained, " aged tissue might actually be a better environment for a rogue cancer cell to proliferate because the cancer cell will have an evolutionary advantage."

this is only for your information, kindly take the advice of your doctor for medicines, exercises and so on.   
https://gscrochetdesigns.blogspot.com. one can see my crochet creations  
https://gseasyrecipes.blogspot.com. feel free to view for easy, simple and healthy recipes    
https://kneereplacement-stickclub.blogspot.com. for info on knee replacement     
 

Third-hand smoke can damage one's respiratory system

The hazards of second-hand smoke are well-known. Now, scientists found even third-hand smoke could do harm to one's respiratory health by changing gene expressions.

The study  showed that the third-hand smoke can damage epithelial cells in the respiratory system, coercing those cells into a fight for survival.

The third-hand smoke, or THS, results when the exhaled smoke and smoke emanating from the burning cigarettes settle on surfaces like clothing, hair and furniture.

The researchers  obtained nasal scrapes from four healthy nonsmoking women aged 27 to 49 years, who were randomized to receive the clean air exposure first and then THS exposure for three hours. The researchers extracted RNA from them to examine their gene expression changes.

A total of 382 genes among approximately 10,000 genes in the data set were significantly over-expressed and seven other genes were under-expressed, according to the study.

"THS inhalation for only three hours significantly altered gene expression in the nasal epithelium of healthy nonsmokers," said the paper's first author Giovanna Pozuelos, a graduate student at UCR.

Also, the researchers found that the inhalation altered pathways associated with oxidative stress that may cause cancer in the long term.

The nasal membrane tissue is similar to those in the bronchus, so the researchers suggested that the damage could go deeper in the respiratory system.

"Many smoking adults think, 'I smoke outside, so my family inside the house will not get exposed.' But smokers carry chemicals like nicotine indoors with their clothes," said  a professor  who led the research.

"It's important that people understand that THS is real and potentially harmful," said the Prof.

THIS IS ONLY FOR INFORMATION, ALWAYS CONSULT YOU PHYSICIAN BEFORE HAVING ANY PARTICULAR FOOD/ MEDICATION/EXERCISE/OTHER REMEDIES.                                    PS- THOSE INTERESTED IN RECIPES ARE FREE TO  VIEW MY BLOG-                                                                                           https://gseasyrecipes.blogspot.com/                                                                                                                                                FOR INFO ABOUT KNEE REPLACEMENT, YOU CAN VIEW MY BLOG-                                                  https:// kneereplacement-stickclub.blogspot.com/                                                                      FOR CROCHET DESIGNS                                                                                                                                                                                     https://gscrochetdesigns.blogspot.com

 

Eating walnuts may help fight breast cancer

Consumption of walnuts may help suppress growth and survival of breast cancer, a study claims.

 

The study, found that consumption of two ounces of walnuts a day for about two weeks significantly changed gene expression in confirmed breast cancers.

“Consumption of walnuts has slowed breast cancer growth and reduced the risk of mammary cancer in mice,” said a researcher.

“Building on this research, our team hypothesised that walnut consumption would alter gene expression in pathologically-confirmed breast cancers of women in a direction that would decrease breast cancer growth and survival,” the researcher said in a statement.

In this first clinical trial, women with breast lumps large enough for research and pathology biopsies were recruited and randomised to walnut consuming or control groups.

Immediately following biopsy collection, women in the walnut group began to consume two ounces of walnuts per day until follow-up surgery.

Pathological studies confirmed that lumps were breast cancer in all women who remained in the trial.
At surgery, about two weeks after biopsy, additional specimens were taken from the breast cancers.

Changes in gene expression in the surgical specimen compared to baseline were determined in each individual woman in walnut-consuming and control groups.

RNA sequencing expression profiling revealed that expression of 456 identified genes was significantly changed in the tumour due to walnut consumption.

The study showed activation of pathways that promote apoptosis or programmed cell death and cell adhesion and inhibition of pathways that promote cell proliferation and migration.

“These results support the hypothesis that, in humans, walnut consumption could suppress growth and survival of breast cancers,” he  said.

“Additional research through a larger-scale study would be needed to clinically confirm that walnut consumption actually does reduce the risk of breast cancer or breast cancer recurrence,” said the researcher.

THIS IS ONLY FOR INFORMATION, ALWAYS CONSULT YOU PHYSICIAN BEFORE HAVING ANY PARTICULAR FOOD/ MEDICATION/EXERCISE/OTHER REMEDIES.                                    PS- THOSE INTERESTED IN RECIPES ARE FREE TO  VIEW MY BLOG-                                                                                           https://gseasyrecipes.blogspot.com/                                                                                                                                                         FOR INFO ABOUT KNEE REPLACEMENT, YOU CAN VIEW MY BLOG-                                                  https:// kneereplacement-stickclub.blogspot.com/           

                   FOR CROCHET DESIGNS                                                                                                                                                                                                  https://gscrochetdesigns.blogspot.com

Non-invasive therapy could remotely kill cancer cells

Scientists have developed a system that can non-invasively and remotely control immune cells so that they recognise and kill cancer cells.

There is a critical need to non-invasively and remotely manipulate cells at a distance, particularly for translational applications in animals and humans, researchers said.

They developed an innovative approach to use mechanogenetics—a field of science that focuses on how physical forces and changes in the mechanical properties of cells and tissues influence gene expression—for the remote control of gene and cell activations.

The team used ultrasound to mechanically perturb T cells, and then converted the mechanical signals into genetic control of cells.

They show how their remote-controlled mechanogenetics system can be used to engineer chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-expressing T cells that can target and kill cancer cells.

The engineered CAR-T cells have mechano-sensors and genetic transducing modules that can be remotely activated by ultrasound via micro-bubble amplification.

"CAR-T cell therapy is becoming a paradigm-shifting therapeutic approach for cancer treatment," said a Dr.

"However, major challenges remain before CAR-based immunotherapy can become widely adopted. For instance, the non-specific targeting of CAR-T cells against nonmalignant tissues can be life-threatening," said the Dr.

"This work could ultimately lead to an unprecedented precision and efficiency in CAR-T cell immunotherapy against solid tumors, while minimizing off-tumor toxicities," said the Dr.

Researchers found that micro-bubbles conjugated to streptavidin can be coupled to the surface of a cell, where mechanosensitive Piezo1 ion channels are expressed.

Upon exposure to ultrasound waves, micro-bubbles vibrate and mechanically stimulate Piezo1 ion channels to let calcium ions inside the cell.

This triggers downstream pathways, including calcineurin activation, NFAT dephoshorylation and translocation into the nucleus.

The nucleus-translocated NFAT can bind to upstream response elements of genetic transducing modules to initiate gene expression of chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) for the recognition and killing of target cancer cells. 

THIS IS ONLY FOR INFORMATION, ALWAYS CONSULT YOU PHYSICIAN BEFORE HAVING ANY PARTICULAR FOOD/ MEDICATION/EXERCISE/OTHER REMEDIES.    

 
PS- THOSE INTERESTED IN RECIPES ARE FREE TO VIEW MY BLOG-                      
HTTP:GSEASYRECIPES.BLOGSPOT.COM/

FOR INFO ABOUT KNEE REPLACEMENT, YOU CAN VIEW MY BLOG-                                                                      

HTTP://KNEE REPLACEMENT-STICK CLUB.BLOGSPOT.COM/
FOR CROCHET DESIGNS
HTTP://MY CROCHET CREATIONS.BLOGSPOT.COM