NgTMA technology: Immunostaining of pGluN2B (Y1252), an indicator of NMDAR activation, in brain metastases (Left column) and immunostaining of pGluN2B (Y1252) in breast primary tumor (Right column).
Scientists at EPFL's Swiss Institute for Experimental Cancer Research and University of Bern have discovered a signaling pathway that breast tumors exploit to metastasize to the brain. In 2018, breast cancer was the most common cancer in women worldwide, accounting for about a quarter of all reported cancers. One of the biggest problems with any type of cancer is metastasis; and when breast cancer metastasizes, the brain is a common destination. The prevalence of breast-to-brain metastases has led scientists to suspect that there is an underlying rationale for why breast cancer cells seek out and seed tumor growths in the brain. Elucidating the rationale might give us the means to minimize breast-to-brain metastases or even prevent them altogether. Publishing in Nature , scientists at EPFL's Swiss Institute for Experimental Cancer Research (ISREC) have discovered that this process involves the "N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor" (NMDAR), which is found on the cell membranes of neurons and is involved in the transmission of nerve impulses. The NMDAR is activated by the amino acid glutamate, released from pre-synaptic neurons during synaptic transmission of such impulses.
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