Ovarian cancer: Quick steps to widespread disease

Synopsis: n nearly 80 percent of women with ovarian cancer, the disease has already spread to the omentum before it was diagnosed. Within the omentum — a large, energy-dense fat pad that covers the intestines — the cancer grows even faster. In the December 4, 2018 issue of Cell Metabolism, published online August 30, a multi-center research team based at the University of Chicago Medicine describes how rapidly spreading ovarian cancer cells take the next steps. Once they infiltrate the omentum and begin to deplete the fat cells there, the tumor recruits cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs). These cells accelerate cancer proliferation and spread by enhancing the mechanisms that cancer cells use, such as increasing blood flow to the tumor, to generate additional energy sources.

Read a press release on a study. “Fibroblasts mobilize tumor cell glycogen to promote proliferation and metastasis,” carried out by a multi-center team based in the Lengyel Laboratory. The study was published by Cell Metabolism.

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The Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology