利物浦大学的研究人员在本周星期二宣布说，他们已经发现两种蛋白能够充当的胰腺癌细胞的一个分子马达。这两种蛋白可能解释为什么这类疾病的侵略性这么强。这两种分别叫做CapG和Gelsolin的蛋白质能够调节细胞的运动。在癌变组织中，这两种蛋白质的浓度异常高，并且他们可能与癌细胞在身体中的扩散有关。研究的结果发表在近期的Gut杂志上。
利物浦大学的Eithne Costello博士指出，这些蛋白可能在胰腺肿瘤的扩散和生长过程中起到一个重要的作用。
据国际癌症研究部门的资料显示，全球明年报道出的新增胰腺癌病例约有216000个，其中大部分发生在发达国家。
要想控制、战胜这种癌症，就需要先了解清除它是如何扩散的。知道了扩散的机理，我们才可能研制出有效的新药物。这项新的研究则找出了两个与癌症扩散有关的分子，并且是向这个目标前进的一大步。
这种癌症在60岁以上的老年人中最为普遍，通常在癌细胞扩散到胰腺以外的晚期阶段才能被检测出来。
研究人员发现证实这两种蛋白质分子有潜力成为新的抗癌药物靶标。当他们降低癌变组织中CapG和Gelsolin的量时，就能够抑制癌细胞的扩散。他们还发现癌细胞核中CapG的量与肿瘤的大小成正比。
Costello和她的研究组还指出，Gelsolin水平较低或检测不到的患者，其预后也较好。当然，目前研究人员还需要作很多的工作才能了解这种癌症背后的机制，才能更早地诊断并研发疗效更佳的药物。
英文原文：
Proteins linked to pancreatic cancer found
Discovery may explain why disease spreads aggressively
LONDON - Scientists said on Tuesday they have discovered two proteins that act like an engine for pancreatic cancer cells and might explain why it is such an aggressive disease.
The proteins called CapG and Gelsolin regulate cell movement. Unusually high concentrations are found in cancerous tissue and could be involved in the spread of the disease to other areas of the body.
“These proteins may play a fundamental role in the aggressive spread and growth of pancreatic tumors,” said Dr Eithne Costello of the University of Liverpool in northern England.
About 216,000 new cases of pancreatic cancer are reported each year, most in developed countries, according to the International Agency for Research on Cancer in Lyon, France.
The Italian singer Luciano Pavarotti was recently diagnosed and had surgery for pancreatic cancer.
“Understanding how it spreads is a priority. We need to know how this disease spreads in order to be able to target new treatments. With these two molecules we have identified players in the ability to spread,” Costello, a molecular biologist, said in an interview.
The disease is most common in people 60 years or older. It is usually not detected until the cancer is in an advanced stage when it has spread beyond the pancreas which makes it more difficult to treat.
The scientists, whose findings are reported online by the journal Gut, studied the proteins that could potentially be new drug targets in samples of cancerous and healthy tissue in the laboratory.
When they lowered the amounts of CapG and Gelsolin in the cancerous tissue it reduced the spread of the cancerous cells. They also found that the amount of CapG found in the nucleus of cancerous cells was proportional to the size of the tumor.
Costello and her team also noticed that patients with low or undetectable levels of Gelsolin had a better prognosis. She added that in order to tackle the disease scientists must do a number of things.
“We need to understand the biology behind it. We need to catch it early and to find improved treatments.”
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