New research finds a common denominator that links all cancers

According to new research by Sinai Health scientists, all cancers fall into just two categories, findings that could provide a new strategy for treating the most aggressive and untreatable forms of the disease.

In new research published this month a Cancer cell, scientists at the Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute (LTRI), part of Sinai Health, divide all cancers into two groups, based on the presence or absence of a protein called yes-associated protein (YAP) .

Rod Bremner, a senior LTRI scientist, said they have determined that all cancers are present with YAP turned on or off, and that each classification has different drug sensitivities or resistance. YAP plays an important role in the formation of malignant tumors, as it is an important regulator and effector of the hippopotamus signaling pathway.

“Not only is YAP disabled or enabled, it also has pro or anti-cancer Effects in any context, “Bremner said.” Therefore, YAPon cancers need YAP to grow and survive. Instead, YAPoff cancers stop growing when we activate YAP “.

Many YAPoff cancers are highly lethal. In their new research, Bremner and other researchers at the Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center in Buffalo, New York, show that some cancers such as prostate and lung can jump from a YAPon state to a YAPoff state to resist therapy.

When cancer cells they are grown on a plate in a laboratory, floated or glued. The research team found that YAP is the main regulator of the buoyancy of a cell, where all floating cells are YAPoff and all sticky cells are YAPon. Changes in the behavior of the adhesive are known to be associated with drug resistance, so their findings involve YAP at the center of this switch, Bremner explained.

Joel Pearson, co-lead author and postdoctoral fellow at the LTRI’s Bremner Laboratory, said therapies addressing these cancers could have a profound effect on patient survival.

“The simple binary rule we discovered can expose strategies for treating many types of cancer that belong to the YAPoff or YAPon superclasses,” Pearson said. “Also, since cancers skip states to elude therapy, having ways to treat YAPoff status and YAPon status could become a general approach to prevent this cancer from changing type to resist drug treatments.”

Researchers hope that by deducing the usual vulnerabilities of this type of cancer, it will be possible to develop new therapeutic approaches and improve patient outcomes.