Pancreatic cancer is one of the most aggressive cancers. A new study from Karolinska Institutet in collaboration with the Department of Pathology at Karolinska University Hospital shows that tumor cells grow not only in the connective tissue-rich environment typical of the disease, but also in damaged parts of the pancreas where normal tissue has been altered. The findings may provide new insights into tumor development and treatment.
Pancreatic cancer is a highly aggressive disease whose prognosis has not improved at the same rate as many other cancers.
Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have now shown that tumor cells not only spread in the connective tissue-rich environment that is a well-known characteristic of pancreatic cancer, but also grow into damaged parts of normal pancreatic tissue. There the cancer can create its own environment.
The study, published in the journal Nature Communications, is based on samples from 108 patients operated on at Karolinska University Hospital. In almost all samples, tumor cells were found in the tissue that normally produces digestive enzymes, but which is damaged when tumor cells grow in.
– We see that the tumor cells adapt to the environment they are in. In damaged areas of normal pancreatic tissue, they exhibit different properties than in the connective tissue-rich part of the tumor,” says Marco Gerling, researcher at the Department of Clinical Science, Intervention and Technology, Karolinska Institutet, who led the study together with pathologist Carlos Fernández Moro.
May affect treatment response
The researchers also found that the tumor cells in the damaged areas more often had a so-called “classic” tumor profile, while cells in the connective tissue-rich part had a more aggressive profile. The damaged areas also contained supporting cells expressing a particular protein, NGFR, which has previously been linked to a healing process of damaged tissue.
– It is possible that this type of damaged tissue plays a role in how the tumor develops and responds to treatment,” concludes Marco Gerling.
The study was conducted in collaboration with doctors at Karolinska University Hospital and researchers at Uppsala University, SciLifeLab and the University of Bergen. It was funded by the Swedish Research Council, the Swedish Cancer Society, the Swedish Society for Medical Research and Region Stockholm, among others. The researchers declare no conflicts of interest.
Publication: “An injury-associated lobular microniche is associated with the classical tumor cell phenotype in pancreatic cancer”
