Lung Cancer Cells' 'Memories' Suggest New Strategy for Improving Treatment
Published:05 Dec.2023 Source:Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
A new understanding of lung cancer cells' "memories" suggests a new strategy for improving treatment, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK) researchers have found. Some lung cancer cells retain a "memory" of the healthy cell where they came from -- one that might be exploited to make an emerging type of lung cancer treatment called KRAS inhibition more effective.
Within the lungs, oxygen is absorbed and carbon dioxide released via air sacs called alveoli. The lining of the alveoli is made of two distinct types of cells -- alveolar type 1 (AT1) and alveolar type 2 (AT2). The big problem comes when lung cancer cells -- which typically develop from AT2 cells -- take on some "remembered" properties of the AT1 cells that AT2 cells differentiate into when they're playing their stem cell role. Scientists call these cancer cells "AT1-like" cells.
In healthy cells, KRAS plays a key role in regulating cell growth and division. But when the gene becomes mutated, it can lead to runaway cell proliferation. KRAS inhibitors can switch off this explosive growth, greatly diminishing tumors, but they still leave behind pockets of cancer cells that aren't sensitive to the drug, and that also give the cancer a chance to develop new mutations to resist the drugs' effects.