Scientists at the Cornell University located the origin of ovarian cancer in mice, which gives a promising lead in treating the disease in humans in the near future, Medical Xpress reported.
Researchers have discovered the source of ovarian cancer, which was unknown due to the detection of the disease in advanced stages. This can help in developing relevant therapies that offer promising results. Ovarian carcinoma or epithelial ovarian cancer is the fifth most common cause of death in women due to cancer in the United States.
Researchers used information that showed some epithelial cancers originate in between two types of epithelium, layers of tissue that line the cavities and cover the surface of the whole body and also form glands. Few epithelial cancers originate in the stem cells of epithelial tissue. These stem cells are designed to renew the damaged tissues in the body and are found throughout the body in stem cells niches, according to the report.
In the study, researchers with the help of this information, found the originating point of ovarian carcinoma in the stem cells of each niche. Alexander Nikitin, professor of pathology, leader of the Cornell Stem Cell Program and the paper's senior author, noted the importance of this originating point, which was discovered in mice and can help in looking for similar areas in humans to develop treatments for the disease.
The scientists also found that ovarian carcinoma was abundantly affecting the stem cells in the hilum region, a layer of cells that connects the ovary to the body.
The researchers used a technique, which was previously discovered by other researchers, in marking the stem cells with a fluorescent protein. This helps in following the stem cells to any other organ or even marking the lineage. Nikitin said that marking the hilum cells using this phenomenon showed that "cells from the hilum area spread around the whole ovary."
The final step of the experiment included micro-dissecting ovary and hilum cells. They then inactivated p53 and Rb1, which are two tumor suppressor genes. These genes' pathways are generally altered in human aggressive ovarian carcinoma. Finally they injected the cells into the abdominal cavity of mice.
As a result, mice injected with ovary cells developed hardly any tumors but the impact of the hilum cells on mice caused death of almost all due to 'aggressive, metastasizing cancers,' which are similar to ovarian carcinoma in humans, the report said.
The findings of the study are published online in the journal Nature.
