New Cancer Target Identified

"Tumors induce inflammatory responses that stimulate tumor survival and progression. Therefore, targeting tumor inflammation could provide substantial therapeutic benefit to most, if not all, cancer patients," says senior study author, Dr. Judith A. Varner from the University of California, San Diego. "However, effective suppression of tumor inflammation requires identification and targeting of mechanisms that are common to the many diverse inflammatory pathways that are activated during tumor growth." 

A well established relationship exists between cancer and inflammation. Researchers have identified a single protein that is required for trafficking the immune cells involved in inflammation. The Research opens up new avenues for therapeutics that can indirectly suppress malignancy by disrupting the inflammatory response.

In their study, Dr. Varner and colleagues investigated the mechanisms that control tumor growth and inflammation by looking at molecular signals that are commonly activated by multiple diverse tumor-derived chemical signals. The researchers made the unexpected discovery that a single enzyme called PI3Kinase gamma served as a convergent point for a wide range of signaling pathways that controlled both tumor inflammation and progression.
A variety of experimental approaches with mouse and human cells demonstrated that disrupting PI3Kinase gamma prevented invasion of inflammatory cells into the tumor. Tumors developed more slowly and metastasis was suppressed in mice lacking PI3Kinase gamma even though cancer cells did not express PI3Kinase gamma and inhibitors had no direct effect on the tumor cells. The PI3Kinase gamma inhibitors indirectly interfered with the progression of cancer by preventing inflammation. Importantly, because the inhibitors do not directly influence tumor cells, it is not likely that they will develop resistance to PI3Kinase gamma inhibitor.