Scientists find secret of cancer-spreading protein

SCIENTISTS have discovered how a molecule helps spread cancer around the body and believe drugs could be developed to block it.

It was known that a protein molecule called Src played an important role in the progression and spread of bowel and other cancers, but it was not known what the molecule actually did.

Cancer Research UK scientists have found that Src is involved in loosening tissues around a tumour, opening the way for cancer cells to spread around the body.

They suggest that developing drugs to block the action of the molecule could prevent cancer from spreading.

Cells in healthy tissues are bound together by molecules that work as scaffolding.

When cancer develops, the scaffolding breaks down and tissues become loose and disorganised.

Src appears to play a key role in this process.

The molecule is vital for maintaining the flexibility of healthy tissues and making sure there is plenty of space for future growth.

Research team leader Margaret Frame, based at Glasgow’s Beatson Institute, said: “We were pretty sure that Src played an important role in bowel cancer, but untangling the precise nature of that role has taken a long time.

“We’ve now found that the molecule triggers several different chemical signals, affecting cells in a variety of ways,” Professor Frame said.

“Designing drugs to intercept these signals could be an important way of preventing bowel cancer from spreading,” she said.

“If we could confine cancer cells to the original tumour, it would give surgery a much greater chance of success and reduce the risk of the disease reappearing in other parts of the body.”

If detected early, bowel cancer is often curable as most of the cancer cells remain with the original tumour and can be removed surgically.

But over time, the cells move away from the tumour into the bloodstream and lymphatic system.

From there, they can spread around the body.