Colorectal cancer spread is among the leading causes of cancer related deaths. Usually, people die from secondary tumors that develop from colorectal cancer rather than the primary tumor itself. By the time the tumor is detected the cancer has already spread, making it extremely difficult to treat. The cancer has poor diagnosis because the cancer cells can stay dormant for long periods of time until some signal causes them to activate and start growing and dividing rapidly.
Now a study published in Stem Cell Reports suggests a possible way for targeting the cancer cells while they are dormant. According to past research, there is a stem cell in the gut that is identifiable by its unique Lgr5 receptor, which is thought be responsible to activating the tumor cells. The stem cells are called crypt base stem cells, which allow the passage of a ‘WNT’ signal that can activate the tumor cell through a cell surface receptor called Frizzled. However, until now it was not known which type of Frizzled receptor led to this activation. There are 10 different types of Frizzled receptors, and through this research the scientists have been able to demonstrate that Frizzled7 is responsible for terminating the dormancy of the tumor cell. This provides us with a novel target for attacking colorectal cancer cell even in their dormancy, which can significantly improve colorectal cancer treatments.
Article summary courtesy by Waleed Khan
Article: Medical News Today