MATT MILLER/WASHU MEDICINE
WashU Medicine faculty and research members of Siteman Cancer Center, along with colleagues at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel, have found that aggressive cancer cells can appear in different locations within head and neck tumors. The finding provides new clues as to why some such cancers — particularly squamous cell carcinomas not caused by the human papillomavirus (HPV) — are more difficult to treat.
Senior author Sidharth Puram, MD, PhD, the Lindburg Professor of Otolaryngology and head of the Department of Otolaryngology–Head & Neck Surgery at WashU Medicine, and his colleagues identified two distinct spatial patterns, or locations, where aggressive cancer cells can occur, one of which was previously unknown. The newly discovered location is deep within the core of some tumors. The researchers found that these deeper cancer cells appeared to take on a more aggressive state after interacting with certain immune cells, in response to signals involving a protein called Oncostatin M.
The research was published Aug. 14 in Nature Genetics.
The finding suggests that blocking the signals that make these cancer cells more aggressive could lead to potential new treatment strategies for head and neck cancers. Puram directs the Head and Neck Tumor Center at Siteman, which is based at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and WashU Medicine.
Read more from Siteman Cancer Center.