How tumors behave on acid
Scientists have long known that tumors have many pockets of high acidity, usually found deep within the tumor where little oxygen is available. However, a new study from MIT researchers has found that tumor surfaces are also highly acidic, and that this acidity helps tumors to become more invasive and metastatic. The study found that the acidic environment helps tumor cells to produce proteins that make them more aggressive. The researchers also showed that they could reverse this process in mice by making the tumor environment less acidic. “Our findings reinforce the view that tumor acidification is an important driver of aggressive tumor phenotypes, and it indicates that methods that target this acidity could be of value therapeutically,” says Frank Gertler, an MIT professor of biology, a member of MIT’s Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, and the senior author of the study. Former MIT postdoc Nazanin Rohani is the lead author of...