Where the cancer is in the breast – important to how it spreads

Cancer is caused by genetic mutations in the cell and over time the tumor becomes a mixture of groups of cells known as cancerous clones. Researchers from Stockholm University, among others, studied these clones using a new technique.

Now, for the first time, we have been able to map in detail the distribution of these clones by visualizing dozens of these mutations in tissue sections from a group of breast cancer tumors, says Mats Nilsson, a professor at Stockholm University.

Clones behave differently

The research team found that at several stages of breast cancer development there are specific, and often unexpected, patterns of clone growth — and that genetic clones behave differently depending on where they appear in the breast.

The cells surrounding the tumor itself appear to be the key to the spread of breast cancer. The findings suggest that sometimes not only genes influence the growth of cancer, but also the location of the tumor.

Insight into this could explain why some treatments only work in certain individuals, even if they have similar mutations to others, because tumors are located in different parts of the breast, says Mats Nilsson.

Distribution related questions can be answered

According to the researchers, this method can be used to answer some of the big questions about cancer: why some cancer cells spread, how treatment resistance develops, and why some treatments fail.

In the future, researchers hope, it may be possible to influence the environment around the tumor to prevent the cancer’s ability to grow and spread. The new technology can also be used to test how new treatments affect cancer and how tumors interact with the immune system.

Scientific material:

Spatial genomics maps the structure, nature, and evolution of cancer clones (Artem Lomakin, Jessica Svedlund, Karina Strel, Milana Gatarik, Artem Shmatko, Gleb Rokhovich, John Sung Park, Young Seok-ju, Stefan Dentru, Vitaly Klishovnikov, Vasyl Vaskevsky, Tong Lee, Omar Ali Bayraktar, Richardson Bender, Andrea L., Sandro Santagata, Peter J. Campbell, Heiji Rosnes, Moritz Gerstung, Mats Nelson and Lucy R. Yeats), temper nature.

Contact:

Mats Nilsson, Professor of Biochemistry/Molecular Diagnostics at Stockholm University and SciLifeLab
[email protected]