A distinct signaling pathway called TNF-α drives the transformation of epithelial cells into aggressive tumor cells. During cancer progression, cells activate their own TNF-α program and become invasive. This finding could help to improve early detection and treatment of patients with cancers in skin, esophagus, bladder or colon, as UZH researchers state.
How does a normal cell in the body develop into an aggressive cancer cell? According to the central tumor model, cancer develops in an evolutionary process. When randomly distributed mutations in cancer genes accumulate in single cells, this gradually perturbs cell division and other cellular properties until the control programs get out of hand. These cells therefore proliferate faster than its neighboring cells, leading to uncontrolled multiplication – so-called clonal expansions of the mutated cells.
The clonal expansion phase in superficially normal appearing tissues is the first of two key phases in tumorigenesis. An international research team led by Ataman Sendoel from the Institute for Regenerative Medicine (IREM) at the University of Zurich (UZH) uncovered that a distinct signaling program not only acts as a general driver of clonal expansions in human epithelia such as the skin and the mucous membranes in esophagus, bladder or colon. It also contributes to the cells' predisposition for tumor initiation and is sufficient to mediate invasive properties of epidermal stem cells.
"Our results show that the TNF-α si.
