Stopping Cancer in Its Tracks

Of the hundreds of thousands of Americans who die from cancer each year, nearly all are victims of metastasis. That's when cancer cells leave the origin site and form tumors in other parts of the body. But in exciting preclinical trials, researchers have found a new target that could inhibit cancer metastasis.

For many years, researchers have tried but failed to interfere with cell signaling pathways that make it possible for cancer cells to move around the body. But in this new study working with animals that have metastasis, scientists found a molecule called four-hydroxyacetophenone or four-HAP. In the lab, it was able to significantly interfere with the metastasis of colon cancer cells.

That's because four-HAP interacts with a cell skeleton protein called non-muscle myosin-two or NM-two-C. NM-two-C controls how stiff the surface of cells becomes by affecting the proteins that determine the shape of the cell surface. By targeting this mechanism, scientists are manipulating the biomechanics of cells through altering the rigidity of cells and thus making it harder for these cancer cells to physically move and cause metastasis.

Now that we know NM-two-C is involved, it can be a target for new drugs and help cancer patients live longer or even survive cancer. The challenge is that cancer is more than two hundred different diseases, so the hope is that by attacking this basic cell function, we can inhibit multiple cancer types.