Good news! Cancer is history! Getting closer to defeating metastasis of cancer!
"... “Using live imaging techniques, we were able to pinpoint a narrow window of vulnerability for metastasising breast cancers,” ...
“For the first time, we visualised Rac1 – a signalling molecule that makes breast cancer cells more resilient as they begin to travel around the body. We showed that targeting this molecule could significantly reduce breast cancer spread – a promising therapeutic approach that may build on current treatments to improve breast cancer outcomes for patients ...
Using intravital imaging techniques developed in-house, the team observed the activity of Rac1 deep within live tumours, tracking it as breast cancer cells metastasised.
“We found that Rac1 was most active near blood vessels or at the border of the tumour where cells were primed to move into the blood stream. Further, we discovered cancer cells could transit to different organs in clusters where Rac1 was more active at the outer surface. This helped the cancer cells be more resilient to the physical stresses that occur when cells leave a solid tumour and enter the blood stream to invade other tissues, such as the lung,” ...
When the researchers targeted Rac1 with an experimental treatment, they found that they could reduce cancer spread in their models by 73%. ..."
When the researchers targeted Rac1 with an experimental treatment, they found that they could reduce cancer spread in their models by 73%. ..."
From the abstract:
"Assessing drug response within live native tissue provides increased fidelity with regards to optimizing efficacy while minimizing off-target effects. Here, using longitudinal intravital imaging of a Rac1-Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET) biosensor mouse coupled with in vivo photoswitching to track intratumoral movement, we help guide treatment scheduling in a live breast cancer setting to impair metastatic progression. We uncover altered Rac1 activity at the center versus invasive border of tumors and demonstrate enhanced Rac1 activity of cells in close proximity to live tumor vasculature using optical window imaging. We further reveal that Rac1 inhibition can enhance tumor cell vulnerability to fluid-flow-induced shear stress and therefore improves overall anti-metastatic response to therapy during transit to secondary sites such as the lung. Collectively, this study demonstrates the utility of single-cell intravital imaging in vivo to demonstrate that Rac1 inhibition can reduce tumor progression and metastases in an autochthonous setting to improve overall survival."
Optimizing metastatic-cascade-dependent Rac1 targeting in breast cancer: Guidance using optical window intravital FRET imaging (open access)
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