Breast cancer cells pose as neurons to invade brain

• Autores: Alyssa Botelho
• Localización: New scientist, ISSN 0262-4079, Nº. 2951, 2014, pág. 11
• Idioma: inglés
• Texto completo no disponible (Saber más ...)
• Resumen

  • Rahul Jandial, a neurosurgeon at the City of Hope Cancer Center in Duarte CA, decided to explore how breast cancer cells are able to cross the blood-brain barrier to enter the brain and how they then avoid destruction by the immune system. They found that only the breast cancer cells taken from the brain expressed a receptor for GABA, plus a transporter protein to bring it into the cell and a host Mother compounds that convert GABA into energy. This suggests that the metastatic tumor cells had worked out a way to disguise themselves as neurons, allowing them to thrive and hide from the immune system.