In 2023, 16,000 cases of pancreas cancer were diagnosed in France. “”The incidence of pancreatic cancer has been clearly increasing since the 1990s, without reason clearly identified so faralerts the Curie Institute. Understanding the causes of this increase in incidence is therefore an important part of research on a global scale“In the United States, a team from the University of California – San Diego recently identified one of the explanations for the development of these tumors. In Cell Reportsthey explain that they have discovered the role of a gene, which allows cancer cells to progress.
Pancreatic cancer: a link between inflammation, cell stress and the development of tumors
“Inflammation and cellular stress, such as hypoxia and oxidative stress, are intrinsic to tumor microenvironments and are particularly widespread in pancreatic canal adenocarcinoma (PDAC), they warn. It is important to note that stress and inflammation both promote the initiation, progression and resistance to tumor medicines. “ In previous studies, cellular stress and inflammation have been shown to activate a protein called Stat3 (signal transducer and transcription activator 3) in pancreatic cells, “thus promoting tumor initiation, adaptation to stress and resistance to treatment “indicate the authors at the start of their study. “”The mechanism by which stat3 completes this process was so far unknown.”
A group of genes associated with the development of the pancreas tumor
In these recent works, they have discovered that Stat3 is capable of activating specific genes essential to adaptation to stress and inflammation. “”In the presence of inflammatory proteins and stress induced by low oxygen levels, stat3 activated a gene called Integrine β3 (ITGB3) in murin and human pancreatic cells “they explain. The expression of this gene favored the appearance of PDAC type tumors and their development. “”Inflammation and cell stress caused by chemotherapy also activated Stat3, increasing the expression of ITGB3 in PDAC cells “complete American researchers. Conversely, when scientists blocked the protein stat3, this made it possible to delay the appearance of the tumor. They found that it is linked to the expression of 10 genes, including itgb3. To designate the genetic signature of these different genes, they used the term stress.
Pancreatic cancer: better predict its evolution
“Compared to existing genetic signatures, the stress signature made it possible to better predict not only the subsequent evolution of cells towards full -fledged pancreatic cancer, but also the aggressiveness of the tumor “they observe. According to them, these results could make it possible to develop tools to identify the patients most likely to develop aggressive cancers, but also to assess their future response to treatments. In parallel, researchers continue to work on the ITGB3 gene in order to better understand its links with inflammation in pancreatic cancer and in other cancers affecting the surface of the tissues, including lung, breast and skin cancers.