To spread to other parts of the body, cancer cells require "roads" to travel on called lymphatic vessels. Now, researchers have discovered that fat utilization is key to the growth and development of these "roads," which helps promote cancer spread.
A special kind of blood vessels, lymphatic vessels transport fluid instead of blood. Lymphangiogenesis, the formation of new lymphatic vessels, is a process that is poorly understood and currently doesn't have a clinically approved drug targeting it as a means of keeping lymphatic vessel growth at bay in the presence of cancer.
Fat Fuels Lymphatic Vessels
Building upon recent studies, an international multidisciplinary team of researchers sought to examine nutrient utilization in lymphatic vessels. It all began with the simple observation that lymphatics use up more fatty acids compared to the usual blood vessels. They then realized that developing drugs that stop fat utilization in lymphatic vessels will stunt their growth. With the necessary "roads" in poor condition, cancer metastasis will hopefully be inhibited.
The researchers published their findings in the journal Nature.
Cells Develop Depending On What They Eat
To better understand why cancer cells favor fat so much, the researchers delved into how lymphatic vessels develop, finding out that they undergo transformation during embryonic development. When lymphatic vessels transform, they also undergo a change in taste and start preferring fat.
"Our study shows that the usage of fat by lymphatics is programmed in their development, and required for their growth and function," said Brian Wong, one of the authors.
What this discovery also told the researchers was that the transformation processes depended on heightened fat utilization. This is because in the process, fat produces molecules that can modify regulators for gene expression. Fat itself doesn't alter DNA, but how genetic codes are utilized can be affected, and this includes the lymphatic gene signature.
Preventing Cancer Metastasis
The researchers are moving forward with immediate next steps in the study carried out in two phases: testing fat usage inhibition to determine effects on different cancer types and metastasis in general and testing dietary fat supplements to see if they can heal faulty lymphatic vessels, which cause dysfunction and swelling in the arms and legs of patients who underwent surgical cancer removal.
The researchers will also be able to focus on helping develop drugs targeting lymphatic vessels now that they have a better grasp of how these "roads" rely on fat utilization to promote the spread of cancer in the body.
