A team of scientists from the Technical University of Munich (TUM, for its acronym in German) has made a series of unexpected findings while investigating the factors that trigger the appearance of colon cancer , and they can be summarized in that “the Cellular stress in combination with an altered intestinal microbiota in the colon drives tumor growth ”, as explained by this university center through a press release. It was previously thought that such a combination only contributed to the development of inflammatory bowel diseases.
“Initially we wanted to study the role of intestinal bacteria in the development of inflammation of the intestines,” explains Professor Dirk Haller – pictured – from the Department of Nutrition and Immunology at the Weihenstephan Center for Life Sciences at TUM, who leads this investigation. “However, we were surprised to discover that the gut microbiota, together with cellular stress, caused tumors – exclusively in the colon – and there was no inflammation involved.”
But let’s clarify, before continuing, certain terms. What is the gut microbiota? It is made up of a community of more than one hundred billion microorganisms -bacteria- of some 500 to 1,000 different species that live in our intestines and have the transcendental function of contributing to a good physiological development, to the fine-tuning of our system. immune. As for cellular stress, it is a damage caused by free radicals and that alter the normal functioning of cells; it is important in various human pathologies.
ATF6 protein, key
This German study we are talking about was initially carried out with mice, “in germ-free animals – that is, sterile – in which activating transcription factor 6 (ATF6) regulated stress in the intestinal mucosa, and no changes. However, as soon as the microbiota was transplanted back into the germ-free animals, tumors developed in the mice’s colon, ”the university notes. In this way, Dirk Haller and the rest of his team – made up of scientists such as Sandra Bierwirth and Olivia Coleman, also in the image above – were able to demonstrate that microorganisms were involved in the development of colon cancer.
Subsequently, this group of researchers examined data on 541 patients with colon cancer. In those cases in which the level of the ATF6 protein, a trigger of cellular stress and involved in response to the presence of misfolded proteins, increased significantly, the rates of recurrence –reappearance of the disease– after surgery increased : around 10% of patients were at risk of having colon cancer again. In this way, according to this study, in certain patients the ATF6 protein could be used as a diagnostic marker when detecting a higher risk of colon cancer and, therefore, it would be useful when starting the relevant treatment in a phase early disease.
Image: A. Heddergott / TUM
