Team of Chinese, US scientists identifies key tumor cell state driving cancer growth, drug resistance

WUHAN -- A collaborative team of Chinese and US scientists has identified a specific group of highly adaptable tumor cells that act as a central hub driving lung cancer progression, creating tumor diversity and causing resistance to therapies, according to new research published this week in the journal Nature.

The study, led by researchers from China's Huazhong Agricultural University and the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York, provides a new potential strategy for targeting cancers known for their tricks to evade treatment.

A major reason cancers are difficult to treat and often recur is that tumor cells can switch between different states to survive attacks from drugs, said Yan Yan, a corresponding author of the paper.

To track these changes in living tissue, the team developed a new genetic reporting system, likened to installing "trackable chips" and "precision clearance switches" in tumor cells in mouse models of lung cancer.

This allowed them to pinpoint and study a "high-plasticity cell state" (HPCS). These HPCS cells function like a "central traffic hub" within the tumor's ecosystem, distributing cells into different growth paths and allowing other cells revert to this adaptable state, according to the study.

They demonstrated that eliminating HPCS cells in early-stage tumors could prevent them from turning malignant. In established tumors, targeting HPCS cells significantly slowed cancer growth.

Furthermore, removing HPCS cells suppressed resistance to both chemotherapy and targeted drugs, and therefore, combining this approach with standard treatments nearly eliminated tumors in the models.

The findings suggest a common mechanism for cellular plasticity, and targeting this hub state could be a promising approach across multiple cancers, according to the researchers.