Scientists at the Stanford University School of Medicine have clarified the role of an enzyme, called lisyl oxidase (LOX) in the role of cancer.
Most people who die of cancer die from metastasis – the spreading of cancer from its original site. This metastasis is enabled by the original tumour producing LOX, which find distant sites and prepares them for invasion by the spreading cancer. Different types of tumour produce differing amounts of LOX – coinciding with how aggressive they are. For example, prostate cancer is generally quite un-aggressive and does not spread easily; so it, presumably, produces little LOX.
In health, LOX strengthens our connective tissue – the important tissue which ‘fills in the gaps’ between important organs and body structures. However, it is produced in quantity by many cancer tumours when they exceed a certain size.
How This Will Stop Cancer Spreading
As the mechanism is better understood, methods will be found of inhibiting the LOX production of a tumour and making the tumour’s spread much less likely.
This will not necessarily help catch cancers which have already spread when they are discovered; but, now its mechanism is better understood, influencing LOX will be a potent weapon in the fight against cancer.
(The enzyme LOX (lysyl oxidase) is not to be confused with the damaging lipoxygenase inflammatory pathway, also called LOX. )
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