Copper accumulation linked to aggressive growth of kidney cancer
· News-MedicalA new study led by University of Cincinnati Cancer Center researchers details how the accumulation of copper helps clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) -; the most common kidney cancer -; grow and advance in stage. The findings were published Oct. 31 in Cancer Discovery, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research.
Study results
The Cancer Center's Maria Czyzyk-Krzeska, MD, PhD, lead author of the research, said that increased accumulation of copper is associated with worse outcomes for patients with ccRCC. Using a multidisciplinary approach, Czyzyk-Krzeska and her colleagues established that ccRCC cells accumulate more copper as they advance from stage 1 toward metastatic disease.
Czyzyk-Krzeska, professor in the Department of Cancer Biology in UC's College of MedicineIn other words, copper induces an orchestrated, multilevel adaptation of cancer cells that promotes tumor growth. It causes a change in the cell's metabolic state."
Next steps
Czyzyk-Krzeska emphasized that even though it is now better understood how copper helps ccRCC cells grow, it is still unknown exactly what is causing copper to accumulate in these tumors in the first place.
"It's a typical example of team science and the impact it can have when people from different disciplines like chemists, bioinformaticians, cancer biologists and physicians work together," Czyzyk-Krzeska said. "You have this combination of different expertise, and you start talking, and good things happen."
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