A joint group comprising VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland and the University of Turku, led by Prof Johanna Ivaska, has discovered why cells require surrounding tissue to be able to divide.
The research results show why a cell which is 'adrift', or separated from the surrounding tissue, is not able to divide normally.
This causes changes in the cell's genotype which expose the body to cancer.
Microscopic images taken by the group's doctoral researchers, Saara Tuomi and Teijo Pellinen, revealed that a dividing cell anchors itself during the various stages of division using cell adhesion receptors called integrins.
A cell with malfunctioning anchoring molecules will become adrift and start to divide abnormally and acquire the potential to become a cancer cell.
The research group also uncovered evidence, in cooperation with a research group led by Prof Olli Kallioniemi, that the anchoring mechanism had been disturbed in some cases of ovarian cancer and in some prostate cancer metastases.
The finding supports the hypothesis proposed by scientists at the beginning of the last century that abnormal cell division is one of the mechanisms in the development of cancer.
The research results open a new perspective on the early stages of the development of cancer and how the changes occurring in cancerous tissue enable the cancer to continuously become a more malignant and aggressive tumour.
When cells become independent of their anchoring mechanisms, a vicious circle is created: genotype changes occurring at an ever-increasing pace enable the disease to become more aggressive.
The research results were published on 16 September 2008 in Developmental Cell, a journal in cell and developmental biology.
