A team of scientists has discovered that the pressure placed on the heart as it pumps blood prevents cancer cells from multiplying in the hearts of mice.
It is known that almost all organs and tissues in the body can develop tumors, however, are rare cases of heart cancer, with secondary tumors being more common than primary ones.
One of the known causes is the little division that adult heart cells have after birth, and division slows down drastically after birth. 20 years. This means that half of the heart cells you are born with will help pump blood throughout your life.
According to , in humans, primary tumors have been identified in less than 1% of autopsies, while secondary cancers, in which the primary tumor occurs in a different part of the body, have been found in up to 18% of autopsies.
In new, published this Thursday in the magazine Sciencescientists transplanted hearts into the necks of genetically modified mice. These hearts did not beat, but still received a blood supply and were functional.
The team iHe then injected cancer cells into hearts transplanted into the necks of mice and into the animals’ “native” hearts. In two weekscancer cells have multiplied and replaced most of the healthy cells in transplanted hearts. In contrast, approximately 20% of the tissue in the native hearts was carcinogenic.
The team also grew modified heart tissue from mouse cells in a Petri dish. The cells only beat if the researchers exposed the tissue to calcium — ions that help boost the heartbeat within the body.
The team then injected lung cancer cells into the heart tissue. Then, it was observed that the number of cancer cells grew and took up more space on the static fabric than on the flapping fabric.
Furthermore, the team found that cancer cells were distributed throughout the static tissue, but that they only clustered in the outer layers of the beating tissue.
In another, published in 2007 in The Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, scientists had already discovered that pressure exerted on the heart when it beats also plays an important role.
The team is now investigating whether the force exerted on the heart could be replicated elsewhere in the body to stop tumors from growing, such as in the skin and breast. They are also looking at whether diseases that increase pressure on the heart have a protective effect against the growth of cancer.
“The study could have implications for other heart diseases, such as fibrosis, which leads to excessive scarring of the muscle”, says the cellular biologist, Alexander Pinto.
“The mechanical tension exerted on the heart may explain why scar tissue develops only in parts of the heart, in the same way that cancer cells cluster in the outer layers of the heart tissue”, he concludes.
