An international team of researchers led by Spaniards has verified in in vitro models the key and determining role that a protein has in the development of endometrial cancer and in the risk of metastasis.
The results of the study, which have been validated in patient samples and which is led by Rodrigo Barderas and Ana Monterofrom the Functional Unit for Research in Chronic Diseases of the Carlos III Health Institute (ISCIII), have been published in the journal Cellular Oncology.
Scientists have verified that the low expression of a protein (C1GALT1) is related to a increased aggressiveness of this type of cancerTherefore, its study could facilitate new findings in the management of this type of tumors.
The study has been carried out jointly with teams from the Complutense University of Madrid and Hospital La Pazand researchers from Tufts University in the United States and the Luxembourg Institute of Health have also collaborated.
Endometrial cancer is a tumor that represents more than 90% of uterine cancers. The prognosis is usually positive, with a high chance of cure, but some subtypes of this cancer can be serious and cause metastasis.
The different endometrial cancer cell lines are a good model to study “in vitro” the appearance and development of this type of tumor, and in this case the researchers have worked with a type of cell (ECC-1) as a cancer model low-grade endometrial cells, widely used in biomedical research, to investigate in the laboratory the relationship of various proteins with the development and progression of this type of cancer.
The results of this study allow increase knowledge of genetic and protein alterations that could be the cause of endometrial cancer.
The Carlos III Health Institute has stressed that since these are studies carried out in the laboratory, further investigations with animal models and tissue samples will be necessary of patients to confirm the association between low expression of this protein and the development of endometrial tumors and the increased risk of aggressive phenotypes linked to metastasis and worse clinical prognosis.
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