Function of cancer cells
Function of cancer cells - Investigations toward fundamental metabolic processes in cancer cells only little results. Most of the abnormalities that were found to be quantitative and variable. The only phenomenon that is always there is increase in anaerobic glycolysis with increased production of lactic acid.
A direct result of the breakdown of glucose into lactic acid is the increase in glucose consumption. This results in glucose available to cells that are not malignant reduced. Changes in the direction of enzyme disturbances only provide quantitative differences and variable.
There is a difference between tumor cells with normal cells regarding certain specific functions. There is a specific function in normal cells that is lost in transformation in other circumstances is exactly what happened recently functions.
The lower the level of differentiation of the tumor cells, disappeared more specific functions. Horn pearl formation is absent in differentiated epidermoid carcinoma; tumors with low differentiation from endocrine organs often do not show the production of hormones.
In addition to loss of function often we see the emergence of new functions in the tumor cells that are not present in the tissue before malignant transformation occurs. In 1928 Brown wrote about a female patient with signs hirsutismus and diabetes mellitus are at autopsy were suffering from carcinoma of the bronchus; both adrenal hyperplasia showed terrific.
New thirty years later Liddle and his assistants can show that indeed some non-endocrine tumors can produce hormone ACTH activity. The production of enzymes and hormones by the tumors derived from tissues that do not have this function in recent years was confirmed by various investigators. The discovery of 'tumor-associated proteins'' apparently important in diagnostics, tumor localization and therapy.
Various hypotheses try to explain the nature of this abnormal. At this time that seems most acceptable is 'derepression hypothesis'. This hypothesis starting from the assumption that each cell contains all the genetic information in a fertilized egg.
At the time of the process of differentiation and specialization, most of the genetic information is repressed. Maybe in the process of malignant transformal a derepression occurs, so that the malignant cells have a completely alien nature of the nature of the cell of origin. Regarding the description of ectopic hormone production, '' endocrine cell hypothesis' gets a lot of attention.
Here regarded that 'endocrine cells' found in many organs due to small changes in genome activity have the ability to produce ectopic hormones. Two cell types are considered to have this function include: the cells by Feyrter called paracrine cells argentafin and cells by Pearse called Apud cells (Amine Precursor Uptake and Decarboxylation). The latter cells may be derived from '' neural tube '.