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Method For Fooling Cancer Cells Into Fat Cells Can Stop Cancer's Spread (technologynetworks.com)

Researchers from the University of Basel in Switzerland have discovered that they can prevent the formation of metastases by fooling breast cancer cells into fat cells. The proof-of-concept study was published in the journal Cancer Cell. Technology Networks reports: Malignant cells can rapidly respond and adapt to changing microenvironmental conditions, by reactivating a cellular process called epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), enabling them to alter their molecular properties and transdifferentiate into a different type of cell (cellular plasticity). Cancer cells can exploit EMT -- a process that is usually associated with the development of organs during embryogenesis -- in order to migrate away from the primary tumor and form secondary metastases. Cellular plasticity is linked to cancer survival, invasion, tumor heterogeneity and resistance to both chemo and targeted therapies. In addition, EMT and the inverse process termed mesenchymal-epithelial transition (MET) both play a role in a cancer cell's ability to metastasize.

Using mouse models of both murine and human breast cancer the team investigated whether they could therapeutically target cancer cells during the process of EMT -- whilst the cells are in a highly plastic state. When the mice were administered Rosiglitazone in combination with MEK inhibitors it provoked the transformation of the cancer cells into post-mitotic and functional adipocytes (fat cells). In addition, primary tumor growth was suppressed and metastasis was prevented. Since both drugs used in the preclinical study were FDA-approved the team are hopeful that it may be possible to translate this therapeutic approach to the clinic.

83 comments

  1. Don't call me lardass, insensitive clod! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    That's my transmogrifying butt cancer.

    1. Re: Don't call me lardass, insensitive clod! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Orcs get cancer and they pick it off and throw it at you (goblins too)

    2. Re: Don't call me lardass, insensitive clod! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      A likely story. I better verify with my PCP before I buy anything

  2. Fooling ... into?!?!?! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    English as a fifteenth language, or just the vocabulary of a screaming monkey?

    1. Re:Fooling ... into?!?!?! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Hey, at-least it wasn't a-festival of misused-hyphens.

  3. I wish I had a dollar for every proof of concept by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I would be richer now than the cancer of Steve Jobs.

  4. Re: Welcome Glad That's Finally Cured by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    A wall will fix it. Stop the spread of Americans when the economy collapses.

  5. Fooling? by RyanFenton · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I think they mean 'turning'.

    Fascinating science in the actual article - really odd use of language in the article. 'Fooling' is kind of anthropomorphizing the cancer cells - they're changing based on mechanisms, they never really make decisions to be fooled on, and that's why the actual study doesn't really use the word.

    Ryan Fenton

    1. Re:Fooling? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Really odd use of a bottom signature - you're logged in so we already see your user name.

  6. polycarbon nation charmed into fooling itself? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    a variety of poisons on the 'menu', & now a way to survive stuff that we/our spawn aren't designed to have in us in the first place? what a story? not this one. just more deep voodoo & chicken feathers?

    1. Re: polycarbon nation charmed into fooling itself? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I definitely see some chicken feathers in the future of this study and it is impossible to say exactly what kind of chicken. I have not much experience with chicken feathers

  7. Hacking by Errol+backfiring · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I would call it hacking. They are hacking the process started by the cancer cells. Just like digital hackers, biohackers can be good guys.

    --
    Nae king! Nae laird! Nae yurrupiean pressedent! We willna be fooled again!
  8. New material for breast implants by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Cancers that are turned into fat later

    1. Re:New material for breast implants by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      But consider where would these boobs grow.

  9. plastic etc,,, in the air/water/food supply by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    just as likely we'll grow the gossamer like wings?

    1. Re: plastic etc,,, in the air/water/food supply by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What a way to go out

  10. How is this any better? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Instead of runaway cancer, you get runaway obesity? Then you die of a massive coronary.

    FAIL

    1. Re:How is this any better? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Just compare the size of a metastasis to the amount of fat that makes you morbidly obese. If you have a tumor the size of an average American's potbelly you're probably terminal already.

    2. Re:How is this any better? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It''s stated in the artcle they actually stopped proliferating.

    3. Re:How is this any better? by geekmux · · Score: 1

      Instead of runaway cancer, you get runaway obesity? Then you die of a massive coronary.

      FAIL

      Since we don't measure obese people with a 5-year survival scale and stage-rate their decline, I'd say it's rather obvious which one is more dangerous.

      And obesity is pretty much 100% curable. I'd much rather take those chances and work on losing the weight than be dead.

    4. Re: How is this any better? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Point was proliferation and division stopped once transmorphed I believe

  11. Re: Welcome Glad That's Finally Cured by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Wall? Idea presentation. Stand-by. LEGO! Build Wall of LEGO. These LEGO are tough. Smooth preventing ascent of man. When caravan alters the wall are unbuilt and are built to destination of formed caravan swarm. Mexico labour are employed for cheap. Preserve western civilization at cost of LEGO addition mal cheap Mexico labour. Brilliant idea of heart attack fear of caravan invaders to meet great LEGO wall.

  12. Re:Author recinds GPL by john83 · · Score: 1

    Because it's like asking for a drug that cures viruses. We develop drugs that help deal with specific viruses all the time, but there are a lot of viruses.

    Improvements in cancer detection and treatment also seem to be relatively incremental. Something that killed 90% of patients a generation ago maybe kills 50% now, and maybe next year a treatment or diagnostic tool or screening program comes out that brings that down to 45%.

    --
    Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government.
  13. Fast forward several years by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Fat-cancer rates explode.
    In other news, obscenely fat people are now walking tanks with their tumor-armor.

  14. Re:Author recinds GPL by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Because "Long Term Treatment" makes more money for a Pharma company than a "One dose cure".

  15. Re:Author recinds GPL by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    How about some opensource news for nerds:

    Nobody gives a flying fuck about some stupid fucking game that ZERO people have heard of. Also this is about bullshit that happened 10 years ago! Ten years! Holy shit, get over it.

    Why do these cancer medicines never cure cancer?

    Some of them do in fact cure cancer. There are many forms of cancer that would have been a death sentence 40 years ago that can be cured in many cases. Curing cancer in a single individual is really hard. Each cancer ends up being a bit different given that they're derived from the genome of their host.

    However science reporting would leave you to believe that all of them will cure cancer immediately. That is what happens when you have lazy "science reporters" (aka people too stupid to make it through real science courses) gobbling up anything with the word "cancer" in journals.

  16. No good hackers can exist by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Hollywood saw to that. And it's the law now: "Computer hacking" is criminal, even though the law doesn't say what "hacking" is. Since this "hacking" indubitably involves computers somehow, it must be "computer hacking" and therefore criminal. Don't go "but the law doesn't mean that" on me, you doofus. If the prosecutor feels like it, he can use it that way. That makes it bad law, but it is a law in force, and thus almost anything anyone would care to call "hacking" can get prosecuted.

    You can thank the security s'kiddies for that. And hollywood.

    1. Re:No good hackers can exist by geekmux · · Score: 1

      Hollywood saw to that. And it's the law now: "Computer hacking" is criminal, even though the law doesn't say what "hacking" is. Since this "hacking" indubitably involves computers somehow, it must be "computer hacking" and therefore criminal. Don't go "but the law doesn't mean that" on me, you doofus. If the prosecutor feels like it, he can use it that way. That makes it bad law, but it is a law in force, and thus almost anything anyone would care to call "hacking" can get prosecuted.

      You can thank the security s'kiddies for that. And hollywood.

      Since I can turn on a television and watch TV shows promoting how to Hack My Life, I'm not really inclined to believe your bullshit Hollywood representation of what the general public has obviously accepted when it comes to hacking. There are plenty of legitimate job titles and even computer certifications that contain the term/title "Hacker", so drop the drama already. A few billion people using computers daily can manage to avoid being labeled a criminal, so it's not hard to use these things and avoid your Hollywood courtroom and its overly zealous prosecutors.

    2. Re:No good hackers can exist by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You're a fool.

      None of the relevant laws even mention "hacking."
      They mention things like "unauthorized access to a computer system" or "circumventing a copy protection mechanism." They also lay out specific elements that must be satisfied to establish guilt.
      Now you can debate whether it is philosophically acceptable to criminalize these kinds of activities, or whether some of these statutes have had creep in the breadth of their application, but your characterization of a blanket antipathy is completely at odds with reality.

      You also have to remember that prosecutors and judges are by and large very intelligent people and do understand with reasonable precision what laws mean. Where a prosecutor brings a charge under such a law, they either are confident that they can make it stick or at the very least have enough of a colorable case that they can bring it as an additional charge that can be used during plea bargaining negotiations for the charge they really are seeking. Defense attorneys have a field day with ridiculous charges, which only weaken a prosecutor's case in the eyes of a judge.

  17. Re: Blog by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It does not matter. I guess the theory is by just behaving naturally the problem goes away. If you remove the cells you risk damaging other cells. Kind of one of those hold your nose until the smell goes away kind of things?

  18. Re: Author recinds GPL by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Because getting permission to do human experimentation is hard

  19. Re:Author recinds GPL by ausgamer · · Score: 0

    Nope, the rescission happened this month, january 2019, and if the little game can rescind, so can unhappy old linux programmers who don't like being ruled over by non-programmers as "thank you" for their decades of gratis work.

  20. TDS? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ...You mean Trump Derangement Syndrome?

  21. Re:Author recinds GPL by Gilgaron · · Score: 1

    Cancer is part of your body that stops doing what it is supposed to do and goes off and does its own thing until problems ensue. As such, there will always be cancer, although it will continue to get increasingly treatable and survivable.

  22. Cancer is not Sentient by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It's not like cancer sees some environmental stimulus and says "oh hey look at that, let me just to make more random mutations to my DNA that just happen to make me do this other thing."

    Cancer isn't a sentient being, so let's stop talking about it like it is. Cancer doesn't exploit anything, or take affirmative action to a particular result. It, like any other cell, responds to environmental stimuli exactly as its program defines.

  23. Re:Author recinds GPL by anwyn · · Score: 3, Funny

    Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government.

    But it would be better than what we have now!

  24. So...I can be cancer-free but by froggyjojodaddy · · Score: 4, Interesting

    fat? :)

    Serious question - I understand everyone has fat cells, just that in obese people, they are larger than in lean people. However, if we turn cancer cells into fat cells, and that person adopts a healthy lifestyle to reduce the size of the fat cell, is that a win-win? Or is this a different type of fat cell that has other consequences?

    1. Re:So...I can be cancer-free but by Gilgaron · · Score: 4, Informative

      The idea is to make the cancer behave like a fat cell, so it'll not metastasize or grow uncontrollably. It'll still be well-behaved cancer so depending on where it is, age and so on you still may want to have further treatment but it is much easier to treat cancer if it isn't metastatic. Even if this was a light sci-fi comedy, it'd be better to get fat than to have metastatic cancer.

    2. Re:So...I can be cancer-free but by jellomizer · · Score: 1, Insightful

      Fat itself isn't that bad. People can be very healthy and overweight. However issues on where the fat is forming in excess is where the problems happen. If the Fat is gathering around your organs then your organs are being restricted and will not function properly. Or if you put on too much weight that affects your physical activity then health issues from lack of mobility and getting proper exercise. Also people get fat from an improper diet, so while they are getting fat they are also malnourished.

      People Can be healthy and Fat. The fat itself doesn't normally hurt people, but where and how much can.

      There are often appearing slim, people who have a lot of health problems because while the fat isn't showing outwardly with a big belly, it is collecting underneath the rib cage squeezing your their internal organs.

      Statistically Women live longer then Men, also women statistically have a higher percentage of body fat too.

      --
      If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
    3. Re:So...I can be cancer-free but by jabuzz · · Score: 1

      Except after smoking obesity is the second largest cause of cancer in the UK at least.

      https://www.cancerresearchuk.o...

      For an intro into the science as to why

      https://www.cancerresearchuk.o...

      The basics are that there is no such thing as being fat and healthy.

    4. Re:So...I can be cancer-free but by bluegutang · · Score: 1

      There are often appearing slim, people who have a lot of health problems because while the fat isn't showing outwardly with a big belly, it is collecting underneath the rib cage squeezing your their internal organs.

      [Citation needed]

    5. Re:So...I can be cancer-free but by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If you could have 5kg of fat cells instead of 5kg of malignant cancer cells, that would obviously be desirable. I don't think any "durrr the person is getting fat" discussion is warranted beyond that.

    6. Re:So...I can be cancer-free but by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Having ALWAYS been obese, I can say this is mostly true, but anywhere over about 260 pounds becomes a real problem as it accelerates knee, ankle, and arch wear and makes it very hard to be active. This stuff does heal (in my case quickly) but it's still difficult to be gimpy for a day or two every week after sustaining another stress injury. Unfortunately I've been around 310 for the last year or so, and 5-8 miles carrying cameras takes a toll on me.

    7. Re:So...I can be cancer-free but by froggyjojodaddy · · Score: 1

      I read it as the cancer cells turns into a fat cell, not just behaves like a fat cell.

    8. Re:So...I can be cancer-free but by Gilgaron · · Score: 2

      Kinda... you can't really undo the genetic damage that made it cancer, but you can force the 'be a fat cell' genes to get loud and in charge, apparently.

    9. Re:So...I can be cancer-free but by Spy+Handler · · Score: 1

      The basics are that there is no such thing as being very fat and healthy.

      The

    10. Re:So...I can be cancer-free but by mspohr · · Score: 1, Informative

      The "fit and fat" hypothesis has been disproved.
      Fat is not healthy (BMI should be 25)
      Heart disease, stroke, diabetes, cancer rates all higher in fat people.

      --
      I don't read your sig. Why are you reading mine?
    11. Re:So...I can be cancer-free but by mspohr · · Score: 1

      You just get "skinny" fat cells.
      Fat cells can be large or small depending on how much fat they have to store.

      --
      I don't read your sig. Why are you reading mine?
  25. Re:Author recinds GPL by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Sadly, the "warfarin and cortisone" treatment discovered with the "non-active" chemicals applied to rabbits never panned out. That was a *general* treatment, it stopped angiogenesis (the growth of new blood vessels) for every cancer it was tried on, in modest doses that did not cause excessive bleeding. The researchers were shocked: they'd been working on using plastic inserts, embedded with medication, as a drug delivery method.

  26. And no need to wait for FDA approval by Applehu+Akbar · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Because Basel is a major center for pharma research, with several major firms headquartered there, it nurtures a university/manufacturing complex that makes it the Silicon Valley of the drug trade. Switzerland has its own regulatory apparatus that is notably faster and more responsive than our FDA, with the same high standards. And as a non-EU country, Switzerland is not subject to regulatory luddism from Brussels. If genetic engineering turns out to be part of the next big cancer treatment, it will flourish in Switzerland.

    https://www.pharmaceutical-tec...

    1. Re:And no need to wait for FDA approval by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      FDA ... is currently shut down. So the normally slow process of reviewing drugs has become fully indeterminate.

      Every novel with a bio-technical bent seems to have some isolated clinic in Switzerland involved. Perhaps there's a real-world model for that?

  27. Re:Author recinds GPL by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    There are a variety of single dose and short course chemo drugs out there. They just aren't useful for all cancers. And yes, they make PLENTY of money for their manufacturers. My wife runs an Oncology practice, and I've seen what they bill insurance for them.

  28. Bigger breast ? by Kuruk · · Score: 1

    While excited. I hope it works out.

    1. Re:Bigger breast ? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      While excited. I hope it works out.

      Too bad Prostate cancer cannot be used in same way.........

    2. Re:Bigger breast ? by bugs2squash · · Score: 1

      It sounds like it is very timing critical, to catch the cancer cells at the exact right moment.

      Also, although it says that EMT is usually associated with embryonic cells, does it mean that there are no normal cells that would be affected ? I'd hate to have my brain suddenly turn to fat like the rest of my body.

      --
      Nullius in verba
    3. Re:Bigger breast ? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Sadly, it would likely exacerbate the asymmetrical bust problem.

  29. Re:Author recinds GPL by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Instead of whining that your story didn't get published, why don't you learn how to actually write a summary and insert working hyperlinks to ths original sourcea so that it meets the bare minimum standards of publishability on this site?

  30. Reversal by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    So can we fool fat cells into being cancer for a few weeks and then fool them back to fat?

    1. Re: Reversal by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Oh and avoid the expensive and effective therapy? It is not so expensive it turns out. Actually free under standard insurance plans and for dependents too. U get your fake and eat it too! I wonder what those professionals do all day? Ah, they find solutions. Avoid the quacks as they cost more in pain and suffering than their fees

  31. Re:Author recinds GPL by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Why didn't it work?

  32. Re:Author recinds GPL by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You'll just say "primary source of author on list is not good enough"

  33. Re:Author recinds GPL by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    https://slashdot.org/submission/9098318/author-announces-gpl-license-recission-on-8chan

  34. Re:Author recinds GPL by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Our system of government has always been based on strange men lounging about in smoke filled rooms.

  35. Re:Author recinds GPL by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    We just need to reach the singularity and upload our minds to defeat cancer forever.

  36. Good news by Impy+the+Impiuos+Imp · · Score: 1

    Turn cancer cells into fat cells

    Good news for everyone except Hollywood starlets, who'd rather have the cancer.

    --
    (-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
  37. #HINDSIGHTIS2020 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    That will get cured on November 3, 2020.

  38. Re:Author recinds GPL by Quirkz · · Score: 1

    Then we'll just get viruses instead. If they don't evolve naturally, someone will make them.

  39. Re:Author recinds GPL by Holi · · Score: 1

    Sounds like a massive HIPPA violation if your wife is sharing patient records with you.

    --
    Sorry, teleporters just kill you and then make a copy. A perfect, soul-less copy.
  40. Intersting work on one tumor by pesho · · Score: 3, Informative

    I am a bit suspicious of the value of studies that have not been replicated for more than one case. This is one of those. It is very clever work but I don't think the chances that it will lead to a cancer therapy are particularly high. The idea behind the work is that cells from breast cancer are one type (epithelial), but they need to convert into another type (mesenchymal) so they can leave the tumor and form metastasis. The clever part is that they nudge the mesenchymal cells to convert to fat cells and stop dividing. The problem is that the occurrence of the epithelial to mesenchymal transition in tumors is a bit of a controversial topic. The idea has a devoted cult following, but it has not been convincingly shown to be true. We know that the breast cancer tumors are epithelial and we know that their metastasis are epithelial. Genetic tagging to detect the transition in actual tumors so far have failed to do so and have shown that you don't need this transition to form metastasis. We also can see epithelial cells leaving the tumor without the need to convert to a different cell type. In the work, they use cell lines (cell cultured in a dish) that either readily undergo the epithelial to mesenchymal transition when exposed to a hormone that is abundant in the tissue and the blood (TGF-Beta), or a cell line that is mesenchymal (MDA-MB-231). These experiments show that when you inject these cell lines in a mouse you can reprogram them into fat cells. To make sure the reprogramming also works on tumors they use a human patient derived tumor that is grown in mice. Here is where my major problem with the work is. There are hundreds of these patient derived tumors that are available but they do the experiments on just one. Why just one? Why this particular one? If you are developing a cancer therapy one of the major questions is what are the chances that it will work. You answer that question by testing as many tumors as you can.

  41. Fat Cancer by WillgasM · · Score: 1

    Fat cancer sounds terrifying.

  42. Sounds like a win-win by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Not only does the person who has the cancer get cured but they get some bigger titties in the process. Maybe not so good for the male breast cancer suffers which is very tiny percentage but hey bigger titties are bigger titties and that's a win-win in my book :)

  43. Good bye breast implants.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ....hello converted cancer cells.

    So, this "biohacking" can be used to grow someone's breast fat to make them "naturally" bigger?

  44. survival of the fattest by Virtual_Raider · · Score: 1

    No, don''t get up, I'll show myself out

    --
    +Raider of the lost BBS
  45. no fooling involved by epine · · Score: 1

    But cancer wants to become fat cells, it just can't remember how without our helpful hints.

  46. This must be my problem! by Tony+Isaac · · Score: 1

    All my cancer cells turned into fat!

  47. WTF is "fooling... into"??? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Oh wait... Americans. Illiterate cretins. You really do have a problem with prepositions in the U.S.A., don't you.
    Just insert a random preposition if you don't know the correct one to use!

    Like "named for" - which should be "named after", and "in the death of", which should be "FOR the death of". "Mr. Smith was arrested FOR the death of John Jones."

    1. Re:WTF is "fooling... into"??? by ChrisMaple · · Score: 1

      From my Funk & Wagnalls dictionary, definition 3 of 4 for "into."
      To the form, state, or condition of: to change water into steam.

      There's nothing wrong there, it's standard vernacular American English, and has been for many years.

      --
      Contribute to civilization: ari.aynrand.org/donate
  48. I thought woman would want this by mykepredko · · Score: 1

    Be cancer free with bigger breasts?

    Ducks...