A village of cancer cells

University of Cincinnati instructor Syn Yeo, PhD, thinks the same analogy applies when it comes to cells and the growth of cancer, particularly breast cancer.

In his recent study, published in the journal eLife, Yeo, research instructor in the department of cancer biology at the UC College of Medicine and co-lead author, says it can take cells in different forms or “life stages” to cause cancer to grow and spread.

In this study, researchers used breast cancer animal models to determine tumor hierarchies beyond “ruler” and “common people” cells, Yeo says. They identified and categorized singular cells which helped them understand each, individual cell’s purpose. Yeo adds that bulk tumor cell analysis would have masked the cellular details.

“We were able to find a complex spectrum of cell states between different tumor types that can range from stem-cells to the ‘beginner cells’ to more differentiated cells,” he says. “In our village [scenario], these would be the governors and mayors, followed by the common townspeople. Furthermore, depending on the lineage of the tumor, some may show a spectrum of cell states that are higher up in the hierarchy and vice versa.

“These findings are important because they show we need to know more about how these specific cell states contribute to tumor growth so we can target them with combination drug therapies, potentially helping more people who may otherwise experience drug resistance.”

Featured photo courtesy of Unsplash.

Funding for this research was provided by the National Institutes of Health (R01-CA211066, R01-HL073394 and R01-NS094144). Xiaoting Zhu was the other co-lead author who was partially supported by R01-HL111829. Other contributors include Takako Okamoto, Mingang Hao, Cailian Wang, Peixin Lu, Long Jason Lu and Jun-Lin Guan. Researchers cite no conflict of interest.