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Cell Pathway May Be Key to Lung Cancer's Spread

Scientists know that an abnormal, over-stimulated WNT/TCF pathway can trigger the development of colorectal cancer. Though WNT/TCF does not appear to play a role in creating the initial adenocarcinoma, it does seem to play a decisive role in helping the tumor spread aggressively to other organs, Nguyen said.

Sendurai A. Mani, an assistant professor of molecular pathology at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, said that the report "for the first time demonstrates that lung cancer acquires the molecular traits necessary to metastasize early on by activated WNT/TCF signaling."

The team of eight researchers used bioinformatics -- the highly complex computer analysis of genetic information -- to study lung tumor samples. They found that the WNT/TCF cell-signaling pathway was the only one of six pathways tested that was hyperactive in lung tumors that went on to metastasize. The pathway was normal in tumors that did not spread. They also observed that WNT/TCF hyperactivity was associated with aggressive tumors and poor survival rates.

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