>Their study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, found that damaged mitochondria inside cancer cells trigger inflammation that tumors rely on to survive and grow. When that inflammatory process is blocked, the cancer cells die.
>The findings point to a signaling pathway called TLR3/TRAF6 as a possible treatment target for pancreatic cancer, according to senior author Dario Altieri, M.D., president and CEO of The Wistar Institute, director of the Ellen and Ronald Caplan Cancer Center, and Robert and Penny Fox Distinguished Professor. He said this is the first time the mechanism has been linked to cancer development.
>Altieri said the team identified two proteins that detect the escaped double-stranded RNA and trigger a strong inflammatory response. Cancer cells then use that inflammation to support their growth.
>The researchers also found that pancreatic cancer cells become highly dependent on this inflammatory state for survival. When drugs were used to block the sensor proteins, cancer cells died while healthy cells remained unaffected. In mouse models, the treatment stopped pancreatic tumors from growing.