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Fresh details about the molecular process of cancer metastasis revealed
Last reviewed: 01.07.2025
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Research conducted by American scientists (Loyola University Chicago) has revealed new details about a complex molecular process involving a protein that enables cancer cells to establish new colonies in remote parts of the body. In the future, the findings could be useful in creating anti-tumor drugs that can prevent breast cancer (and some other types of cancer) from spreading throughout the body.
The study focused on the chemokine receptor CXCR4, which is present on the outside of cell membranes. Abnormally high levels of this molecule are found in at least 23 types of cancer, including breast, lung, pancreatic and thyroid cancer.
The spread of cancer cells from their primary site to various organs and tissues in the body is what usually kills. Tumor cells break away from their parent mass and begin circulating in the bloodstream throughout the body. A molecule called CXCL12 acts as a beacon for the chemokine receptor CXCR4, signaling the cancer cell that it can land there and give birth to a new tumor. So the study was undertaken to better understand the intricacies of this complex signaling pathway.
Using a line of HeLa cancer cells (the "immortal" Henrietta Lacks cancer cells that can divide indefinitely), the scientists have identified a molecule that is a critical link in the entire signaling pathway. They hope to use it as a target to turn off the signaling pathway - and thus keep the cancer cells from attaching to a new site.
The next logical step would be to develop a drug to block the target molecule, after which the drug would be tested in animal models. If it proves effective, the first clinical trials in cancer patients would follow.
And only one thing is not completely clear: what exactly is this “molecule that is a critical link in the entire signaling pathway”? Based on indirect data (that same article in the Journal of Biological Chemistry, which is available in full, by the way), we can conclude that it is the ubiquitination mediator ubiquitin ligase atrophin interacting protein 4 (AIP4).
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