Horses & Cattle: The Role of Fibroblasts in Cancer Metastasis

Horses & Cattle: The Role of Fibroblasts in Cancer Metastasis

A new study shows that connective tissue plays a key role in determining the metastatic potential of cancer cells.

Austrian horses and Indian cows have one thing in common. It is not unusual to observe prominent benign tumors on these animals, which are rarely fatal. Researchers have linked a phenomenon called placental invasion during gestation to the severity of cancer—that is, its ability to metastasize.

In fact, the gestation of these ruminants is quite unique compared to that of humans. The placental cells of ungulates do not implant in the uterine lining at the beginning of gestation, as they do in monkeys and many other mammals.

Using monolayer cultures of stromal cells or fibroblasts from the endometrium derived from both humans and cattle, the researchers tested and compared their resistance to invasion by, on the one hand, from both species on one side and a melanoma cancer cell line on the other. The results are surprising.

Cow cells resist invasion, whereas human cells not only fail to resist it but may even facilitate the invasion. However, it is not so much the way cancer cells behave that is different, but rather how fibroblasts respond to cancer cells. The key was not the action of the invading cells, but the response of the tissue under attack.

Healthy fibroblastic tissues could become new therapeutic targets in the fight against cancer metastases.