Scientists from the Oncology Research Institute of Tomsk National Research Medical Center investigated how the process of cellular entosis - when one cell invades another - can influence the development of cancer. The Russian Ministry of Education and Science reported this to RT. The study results were published in the journal Cell Death Discovery (Q1).
Entosis often occurs in malignant tumors. According to one version, this is due to the fact that it is triggered by uncontrolled cell division and when they are separated from the matrix. In addition, entosis can be provoked by glucose deficiency in cells, as well as ultraviolet radiation.
After the introduction of one cell into another, different scenarios are possible. In one case, the engulfed cell dies and becomes “food” for the cell that captured it, helping it survive. In another, it begins to divide or leaves the vacuole of the “host” cell.
Entosis process
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Since entosis is associated with malignant processes in the body, there are proposals in the scientific community to use tissue analysis for such cells to predict the development of cancer.
“To date, numerous mechanisms have been identified in which one cell engulfs another, resulting in the creation of cell-within-a-cell structures. One of the mechanisms for the formation of these structures is entosis, which is presumably associated with carcinogenesis and tumor progression,” said Nikolai Litvyakov, head of the oncovirology laboratory of the Oncology Research Institute of the Tomsk National Medical Research Center, Doctor of Biological Sciences, Professor of the Russian Academy of Sciences, in a conversation with RT.
In the new work, scientists explored these mechanisms and clarified the role of entotic formations - “cells within a cell” - in the development of cancer. The authors of the study classified different types of entosis and identified the stage of tumor development that each of them is characterized by.
Scientists note that entotic processes can both inhibit the development of cancer and promote tumor growth. The first scenario occurs when the process of entosis destroys internalized tumor cells, which slows down the growth of malignant tissues.
Cancer tumor
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In the second case, entotic cells absorb low-grade tumor cells and thus provide space for the development of more aggressive cellular forms. In addition, it is possible that some of the malignant cells survive the effects of chemotherapy by hiding in other cells. Subsequently, these surviving cells become tumor stem cells and cause relapse of the disease.
Experts analyzed the incidence of entosis in 64 patients diagnosed with colon cancer. According to the scientists, the more entotic structures were found in the tumor tissue, the more abnormally activated stem cell genes were in it, which determine the ability to form metastases.
The authors of the study believe that entotic cells can be a marker that allows one to predict the nature of the development of the disease in certain types of tumors.
“We examined the mechanism of entosis and options for the death of entotic cells, put forward a hypothesis about possible options for the participation of entosis in the formation and progression of cancer, in particular, how, thanks to entosis, a very rapid evolution of tumor cells can occur, due to the fusion of the genomes of the absorbed and external cells with the formation of aggressive clones , for example, when exposed to therapy,” explained Nikolai Litvyakov.
According to scientists, the results obtained in the future will help develop therapy aimed at suppressing entosis in the tumor to prevent its development.