Targeted 'Cell Sleep' May Lower Chances of Cancer Recurrence

A new study shows that targeting sleep cells may help lower some people's risk of cancer.

According to researchers from the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute (UPCI), scientists discovered that they may be able to prevent cancer cells from forming that enter during cellular sleep.

 "Successful cancer therapy often is hampered by tumor cell quiescence because these cells remain viable and are a reservoir for tumor progression," said Anette Duensing, M.D., assistant professor of pathology at UPCI, via a press release. "By inhibiting a key regulator of quiescence, we are able to kill a larger fraction of cancer cells."

The study notes that Dr. Duensing and her colleagues found this discovery while examining gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs) that are rarely found in the walls of the gastrointestinal tract. In fact, according to the American Cancer Society, only around 5,000 cases of GISTs occur each year in the United States with an estimated five-year survival rate of 45 percent in patients with an advanced stage of the disease.

These tumors are caused by a single gene mutation that can be treated with a therapy drug called Gleevec. Yet, unlike traditional chemotherapy that kills rapidly dividing cancerous cells, targeted therapies like Gleevec stop cancer by interfering with specific molecules related to tumor growth.

However, GISTs have learned to develop resistance to the treatment and complete cancer remission using the therapy is often rare.

Researchers note that a key regulator to the cancer cell sleep process is a protein commonly referred to as DREAM that involves multiple proteins which help induce cell sleep.

 "When we disrupted the DREAM complex in the lab, we significantly increased cancer cell death using Gleevec," said Dr. Duensing, via the release. "This underscores the importance of the DREAM complex as a novel drug target worthy of preclinical and clinical investigations."

More information regarding the study can be found in the journal Cancer Research.