Scientists funded by Cancer Research UK have discovered that cells in the pancreas that are at risk of turning into cancer cells start behaving in a way that is similar to brain cells affected by dementia.
This finding could help researchers better understand how pancreatic cancer begins and may lead to new ways to treat or prevent the disease.
The study was done by researchers from the Cancer Research UK Scotland Centre and published on August 15 in the journal Developmental Cell. They looked at pancreas cells in mice to see what causes normal cells to become cancerous.
What they found was surprising: cells that are just starting to turn into cancer, known as pre-cancer cells, had problems with their recycling system—called autophagy.
Autophagy is the process cells use to clean up and recycle waste. In healthy cells, this helps keep things in balance by breaking down old or extra molecules. But in the pancreas cells they studied, this recycling system wasn’t working properly.
As a result, damaged or “problem” proteins started to build up and stick together in clumps. This is similar to what happens in diseases like Alzheimer’s, where protein clumps damage brain cells.
Even more importantly, when researchers looked at pancreas samples from human patients, they saw the same kind of protein clumping. This means the same issue might be happening as pancreatic cancer develops in people.
Professor Simon Wilkinson from the University of Edinburgh, who led the study, explained that this shows how problems with autophagy may be an early step in pancreatic cancer. He said this research could help scientists learn from dementia studies to better understand pancreatic cancer and how to stop it from developing.
Pancreatic cancer is one of the deadliest forms of cancer. Around 10,500 people in the UK are diagnosed each year, and it is linked to 6,900 deaths annually. Unlike other cancers where treatments and survival have improved, progress in treating pancreatic cancer has been very slow. One reason is that it is usually diagnosed late, when treatment doesn’t work as well.
Researchers already know that a faulty gene called KRAS is involved in many pancreatic cancers. But genes are only part of the story. The new study suggests that the combination of this faulty gene and problems with autophagy may be what pushes cells to become cancerous.
In the pancreas, autophagy is especially important because this organ makes digestive juices and hormones that help break down food. When autophagy stops working properly, it can cause problems in how these proteins are managed, leading to more stress on the cells.
Interestingly, other research has shown that cancer cells sometimes hijack autophagy and use it to grow faster. But this new study shows that when autophagy breaks down early on, it may actually help trigger cancer in the first place.
The researchers now want to study these processes more closely. They hope to find ways to predict who might be at risk of pancreatic cancer or even reverse the early changes that lead to it. They also want to see how factors like age, gender, or diet could play a role.
Dr. Iain Foulkes from Cancer Research UK said the findings could give scientists important clues about how pancreatic cancer starts and how to detect it earlier. He added that research into this type of cancer is one of Cancer Research UK’s top priorities.
If you care about brain health ,please read studies about Vitamin B9 deficiency linked to higher dementia risk, and cranberries could help boost memory.
For more health information, please see recent studies about heartburn drugs that could increase risk of dementia, and results showing this MIND diet may protect your cognitive function, prevent dementia.
The study is published in Developmental Cell.
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