Cervical Cancer.
What is the cervix?
The cervix is part of a woman’s reproductive system. It’s in the pelvis. The cervix is the lower, narrow part of the uterus (womb).
The cervix is a passageway:
- The cervix connects the uterus to the vagina. During a menstrual period, blood flows from the uterus through the cervix into the vagina. The vagina leads to the outside of the body.
- The cervix makes mucus. During sex, mucus helps sperm move from the vagina through the cervix into the uterus.
- During pregnancy, the cervix is tightly closed to help keep the baby inside the uterus. During childbirth, the cervix opens to allow the baby to pass through the vagina.
Protein blocks inflammation that fuels tumor growth
Caption: Tumors are characterized by extensive inflammatory infiltrates, which can comprise up to 25 percent of the tumor’s mass. Myeloid cells invade tumors in response to diverse inflammatory stimuli produced by the tumor. Invading myeloid cells differentiate into a type of macrophage that promotes tumor angiogenesis, growth and metastasis and inhibits anti-tumor immunity. In the June 14 issue of Cancer Cell, Schmid et al. demonstrate that tumor inflammation (myeloid cell invasion of tumors) requires PI3kinase gamma, a gatekeeper enzyme that is primarily expressed by myeloid cells. Inhibitors of PI3kinase gamma strongly inhibit tumor inflammation, growth and metastasis for a wide variety of cancers. PI3kinase gamma inhibitors hold promise as a new class of general cancer therapeutic agents.
Cancer and chronic inflammation are partners in peril, the latter increasing the likelihood that malignant tumors will develop, grow and spread. In a new paper published in the journal Cancer Cell, Michael Schmid, Judy Varner and colleagues at the UCSD Moores Cancer Center and elsewhere identify a protein inflammation trigger common to most, if not all, cancers.
Even more encouraging, tests showed that the trigger was inhibited with existing drugs, dramatically decreasing primary tumor growth and metastasis in animal studies. You can read more about the research here.
Inflammation is a hot topic in cancer research, and UC San Diego is one of the hotbeds. It was here, in 2004, that scientists first published molecular evidence linking cancer and inflammation. Leading the charge then and now is Michael Karin, a distinguished professor of pharmacology in UCSD’s Laboratory of Gene Regulation and Signal Transduction. Karin thinks inflammation may play a key role in most human diseases, a point he made in this 2005 San Diego Union-Tribune story.
Each day, new papers linking inflammation to conditions as diverse as cardiovascular disease, Alzheimer’s and autoimmune disorders suggest he’s right.
