Liver cancer cells remodel to resist drugs

The cells that make up liver cancer have an unexpected capacity for transformation : they are able to remodel themselves and modify the structure of their external membrane to better resist drugs , thus making them ineffective . This is the discovery made by the Italian study published in the journal Signal Transduction and Targeted Therapy, led by the University of Milan and the European Institute of Oncology in Milan (IEO). The result, to which the Istituto Romagnolo per lo Studio dei Tumori 'Dino Amadori' and the San Raffaele Hospital in Milan also contributed, however, offers the possibility of reformulating current therapies to improve their effectiveness. "Just as some animals change their skin to adapt to the environment, tumor cells also transform , modifying their structure in order to escape the effect of drugs", comments Nico Mitro of the University of Milan and IEO, who coordinated the research. "After an initial phase of drug treatment, the surviving cancer cells are able to reorganize the lipids in their outer membrane - he says - and thus become resistant to treatments". One of the most promising aspects of the study is the identification of two possible biomarkers in the blood of patients , which could become useful tools to monitor the effectiveness of therapies more precisely and intervene promptly with possible alternative strategies. "These discoveries open new perspectives in the fight against one of the most common forms of liver cancer, hepatocellular carcinoma, and more generally in understanding the mechanisms by which tumors become resistant to drugs", concludes Mitro: "In the future, a more in-depth knowledge of the metabolism of tumor cells could lead to the development of increasingly targeted and precise therapies".