The Ewing sarcoma is a very aggressive bone cancer with a high metastatic potential that mainly affects children and young adults. Thus, researchers want to specifically target the cells that can trigger metastases. 

For their studies, the researchers isolated the cells that form metastases. To do this, they took tumors from affected individuals, cultured them and developed tumor organoids from them. A reporter gene that produces a green fluorescent protein was also inserted into the cell DNA. This gene was also modified so that it could be suppressed by a very short, special RNA molecule (a micro RNA) produced by the cells themselves. Because metastatic cells produce little of this micro-RNA, they shine and can thus be easily identified. After analyzing the selected cells, they found a gene known to correlate with poor prognosis. When this gene is active, the likelihood of cancer cells spreading throughout the body and forming metastases increases.

It should now be possible to target the protein encoded by this gene with a treatment and thus eliminate these particularly aggressive cells, the scientists hope.

Original publication:
T. Keskin, B. Rucci, S. Cornaz-Buros, P. Martin, C. Fusco, L. Broye, K. Cisarova, I. Letovanec, S. La Rosa, S. Cherix, M. Diezi, R. Renella, P. Provero, I. Stamenkovic, and N. Riggi (2021). A live single-cell state reporter assay links.
intra-tumor heterogeneity to metastatic proclivity in Ewing sarcoma. Science Advances. http://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abf9394

More information:
https://www.snf.ch/de/lKHV5rAzsJ8vMiGp/news/vorhersagen-ob-ein-tumor-metastasen-bilden-kann