Copper ions and their protein transporters are key to cancer cell movement and could be targeted by therapies says a new study.
A Swedish team exploring how breast cancer cells metastasise have discovered that Atox1, a protein involved in copper ion transfer and cell movement, could be a potential target to treat breast cancer aggressiveness.
Breast cancer is the most common form of cancer in women worldwide. Early diagnosis and treatment are crucial to the survival rate.
Most deaths related to breast cancer are due to cancer cells leaving the primary tumor and ‘metastasizing’ in other parts of the body. But the processes for how this happens are not yet understood.
Previous studies have shown that cancers, including breast cancer, are associated with higher copper levels in the blood and tumour cells. While copper is vital for many cellular functions in controlled amounts, free copper ions can be toxic, so they are bound to proteins.
Atox1, the protein that acts as a copper ion transporter, also places itself along the leading edge of migrating breast cancer cells, so may be involved in cell movement.
The researchers from at Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden say what they found could be important for all types of cancer.
“How cancer cells move is a fundamental process that we still don’t understand well enough,” said Pernilla Wittung-Stafshede, Professor of Chemical Biology at Chalmers.
The team now intends to move their experiments to small animal models and investigate whether there are other copper-binding proteins involved.
Detail: https://www.drugtargetreview.com/news/57214/copper-ions-could-be-key-to-blocking-cancer-metastasis/