Cancer cells seldom start off stealthy. Quite to the contrary, they announce their presence to the immune system by planting chemical red flags right on their membranes. Once alerted, the body's defenses can swoop in, destroying rogue cells before they can do much damage.
Lying at the heart of this early warning system are lipids, fatty compounds previously seen by cancer biologists primarily as a fuel source for burgeoning tumors. But now, a new study in Nature demonstrates that one particular lipid type is actually critical for cancer immune evasion-; so much so that certain cancer cells cannot proliferate without it. The findings confirm longstanding suspicions that not only is this lipid a key player in cancer biology (and therefore a key drug target) but also demonstrate that existing FDA-approved medications designed to stunt lipid production can galvanize the immune system against cancer.
Cancer cells are altering how this lipid is metabolized, which in turn distorts the 'eat me' signals that malignant cells usually produce. This paints a very different picture of the role lipids play in cancer growth." Mariluz Soula, Study First Author and Scientist, Lime Therapeutics A mysterious connection between lipids and cancer Scientists have long known that cancer cells alter lipid metabolism, but it was generally assumed that cancer cells were gobbling up these lipids for energy-; consuming the fatty molecules to help the tumor grow and spread far beyond that of healthy cells.