October 19, 2021
Cancer Research Institute, Kanazawa University
Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development (AMED)
Tokyo Medical University
The Institute of Medical Science, The University of Tokyo
Kyushu University
Keio University School of Medicine
A joint research group, including Professor Noriko Gotoh of the Cancer Research Institute/Nano Life Science Institute at Kanazawa University; Chief Professor Masahiko Kuroda of the Department of Molecular Pathology at Tokyo Medical University; Professor Arinobu Tojo of The Institute of Medical Science at The University of Tokyo (at the time of the research; currently Professor Emeritus at The University of Tokyo and Vice President/Executive Director at Tokyo Medical and Dental University); Professor Jun-ichiro Inoue, a Project Professor and Professor Emeritus at The University of Tokyo; Division Head Issei Kitabayashi of the Division of Hematological Malignancy at the National Cancer Center Research Institute; Professor Koichi Akashi of the Department of Medicine and Biosystemic Science at Kyushu University; and Professor Hideyuki Saya of the Division of Gene Regulation at the Institute for Advanced Medical Research, Keio University School of Medicine, has discovered the mechanism that creates the very early microenvironment essential for the development of breast cancer.
Despite the efforts of researchers worldwide to elucidate the pathology of cancer, leading to the successive development of new treatments, it is often difficult to completely cure cancer once it has developed. As a result, many cancer patients lose their lives due to recurrence and metastasis. It is hoped that preventing cancer development and treating it at a very early stage could lead to a complete cure and a drastic reduction in the number of deaths. However, for many cancers, including breast cancer, the molecular mechanisms by which cancer cells begin to proliferate in the very early stages of development remain unknown, which has hindered the development of curative prevention and very early treatment methods.
This study has clarified at the molecular level the mechanism by which a microenvironment (a "niche" surrounding cancer cells) where stromal cells, immune cells, and others gather is created in the very early stages of breast cancer development. Furthermore, it was shown that the organization of this very early-stage cancer microenvironment by a molecule called FRS2β is essential for cancer cells to begin proliferating.
These findings are expected to be applied in the future to cancer prevention and the diagnosis and treatment of very early-stage cancer, contributing to the eradication of cancer.
The results of this research were published online in Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences, USA , on October 18, 2021, at 3:00 p.m. (U.S. Eastern Daylight Time).
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