NEW YORK, Oct 04 (Reuters Health) -- A type of cell called a fibroblast may play a role in tumor progression once cancer cells have appeared in some tissues, according to results of a study published in the journal Cancer Research.
While it is still too early to tell if this will lead to new cancer treatments, the finding could lead to new diagnostic methods for specific cancers, such as prostate cancer, researcher Dr. Thea Tlsty of the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), told Reuters Health.
Previous studies have indicated that fibroblasts, which are cells found in epithelial tissue (skin, surfaces of organs and the linings of glands such as the prostate), become modified and behave differently when they are found near carcinomas. Carcinoma is cancer of epithelial tissue.
Lead study author Dr. Aria Olumi and colleagues at UCSF performed experiments using settings designed to mimic human prostate cancer. Normal human prostate fibroblasts and prostatic carcinoma-associated fibroblasts were placed in male mice and rats and they were also grown in the lab in culture.
Prostatic carcinoma-associated fibroblasts caused tumor progression when grown with human prostate cells that were immortal (that is, that will divide infinitely like a cancerous cell, but will not develop into a tumor). But they did not cause normal human prostate cells to become cancerous. These results were seen when the cells were grown both in the mice and rats and in culture.
Olumi and colleagues say that the study demonstrates that carcinoma-associated fibroblasts appear to stimulate tumor progression, but do not trigger cancer in the first place. That is to say, if the process of cancer has already begun, the fibroblasts may play a role in maintaining the tumor, but if cells have not already become cancerous then the fibroblasts apparently will not cause cancer to develop.
"The finding represents an important new insight into the complex process by which a cell becomes cancerous," said Dr. Gerald R. Cunha, one of the senior authors of the study. "We consider this finding an important first step in a new field of cancer research," added Cunha, a professor of urology and anatomy at the UCSF.
