.
Moreover, migration of breast cancer to the brain is the leading cause of mortality from the disease, underscoring the urgent need for new therapeutic targets to delay or halt its metastasis.
The olfactory receptor family of genes is known to be overexpressed in a variety of cancers, including prostate, melanoma, lung, and liver, though its role in breast cancer has been understudied in the past.
Research with animal models showed that OR5B21 enhances or primes breast cancer cells to metastasize through a signaling pathway that activates a process known as the epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT).
EMT prompts multiple biochemical or phenotypical changes in the olfactory cells which include enhanced migratory capacity to distant organs, especially the brain.
This activation converts a wide range of extracellular signals into intracellular messages through the signaling pathway NF-κB/STAT, resulting in cell proliferation, invasion and metastasis.
These findings are novel for the field, though further research is needed to determine exactly how OR5B21 induces metastasis.
Future research might also lead to a molecular inhibitor of OR5B21 in response to the team’s discovery that downregulating the olfactory receptor resulted in a significant decrease in cancer cell metastasis.
Using OR5B21 as a target for adjuvant therapy could help fill a huge unmet medical need by preventing breast cancer metastasis to the brain and other organs, and thus prolong survival of patients.
Source: Medindia
