Understanding & Detecting Diseases or Cancers Before They're Apparent

Research being conducted in Dr. Yvonne Kapila's laboratory may one day lead to developing new tools to diagnose and treat periodontal disease and perhaps cancer as well.

A Cell's "Grand Regulator"

In terms of oral cancer, the matrix is also crucial for regulating cell survival, migration, and the ability to establish itself in other parts of the body in the form of invasion or metastasis.

One of the important signaling cues the matrix uses to regulate these important processes in cancer is the p53 molecule. "p53 is the grand regulator of cells," she said. "In essence, it's a sensor that tells a cell everything that is taking place around it and inside of it." It's a way the matrix on the outside of the cell communicates messages to the inside of the cell.

It's not surprising that in many cancers the p53 molecule has mutated, so the regulation of normal life and death of cells runs amuck and leads to a survival advantage for certain cells and the beginning of cancer.

Once there's an understanding about how the matrix regulates the p53 molecule in inflammation and cancer, this could one day lead to potentially new diagnostic therapeutic targets. "It's possible that what we learn in this area could, ultimately, be transferable in other areas where inflammation occurs, such as arthritis," she said.

But applying this to cancer cells could be more of a challenge Kapila said because, until now, it seems they have been adept at escaping cell death.

Cancer cells, unlike other cells in the body, detach from the matrix and have an ability to survive. "How do they do it?" "Why do they do it?," she asked. "We don't have answers to those questions, but we are trying to learn what the intracellular signals are that make this occur."

Kapila said one thing that she has learned from the research is that when oral cancer cells detach from the matrix, they link up with one another and create their own environment that allows them to survive. The presence of fibronectin enables them to do that.

This is only one important piece of the puzzle. There are many more questions to answer to try and learn how oral cancer cells refuse to die and continue to grow, thrive, and aggressively invade local tissues or metastasize.

"The matrix holds many critical secrets that will help us discover better ways to treat oral cancer," Kapila said. "Understanding the process will play an important role in determining the progression of a disease and possible therapies."