MAPK4 silencing in gastric cancer drives liver metastasis by positive feedback between cancer cells and macrophages

Abstract

Gastric cancer: Gene shutdown helps spread to the liver Reduced activity of a key cell control gene mediates an interaction between gastric cancer cells and immune system cells called macrophages that allows the cancer to spread to the liver. Cancer cells migrating to the liver is a major cause of death for gastric cancer patients, but the mechanisms driving this process have been unclear. Researchers in China led by Tianhua Zhou and Wei Zhuo at Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, studied the activity of genes and their corresponding proteins in patients’ cancer cells, and analyzed gene activity in mouse models of gastric cancer. They found that the gene that generates a protein called MAPK4 is significantly reduced in the cancer cells. This allows the cells to interact with macrophages, promoting their spread to the liver.