Cellular intelligence: the cancer problem (Evolution)

by David Turell , Friday, May 19, 2023, 16:43 (344 days ago) @ David Turell

Cancer cells retrain T cells to help with metastases:

https://www.the-scientist.com/news/breast-cancer-cells-retrain-t-cells-to-invade-specif...

"In a recent paper published in Cell Reports, Karin de Visser, group leader at the Netherlands Cancer Institute and the Oncode Institute and professor at Leiden University, described a regulatory T cell (Treg) population that is reprogrammed by cancer cells to reduce the immune system’s ability to prevent metastasis. Because this population selectively promotes lymph node metastasis, de Visser’s findings reveal how tissue-specific interactions between tumor and immune cells may determine which tissue a cancer cell homes to, offering important clues for precision medicine approaches to treat the disease.

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“'One of the most obvious changes we saw was that Treg [numbers] were increased in the circulation and in every organ we looked at, sometimes even at early cancer stages when the [primary] tumor was still very small,” de Visser said.

"Tregs are part of the body’s safety mechanism to prevent autoimmunity by modulating natural killer (NK) and T cell activity. In their mouse models, de Visser and her team found that the population of brainwashed Tregs that localize to lymph nodes were hyperactivated and impaired NK cell function, likely to help cancer cells stay hidden from the immune system in this tissue.

"The scientists next depleted Tregs and found that this prevented lymph node metastasis but did not alter cancer spread to other organs. “It was mind-blowing, because these cells carry the genetic instructions to develop breast cancer and metastasize, so it really showed that this [tissue specificity] is not a cancer cell-intrinsic process, they need help from other cells,” de Visser said.

"To understand if Tregs also control metastatic spread in humans, de Visser next collaborated with researchers at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and studied the immune cell populations in tumor and lymph node biopsies of breast cancer patients and healthy controls. Similar to their mouse models, the scientists found elevated Treg and reduced NK cell levels in cancer patients compared to healthy controls. Moreover, patients with early-stage lymph node metastasis showed even higher Treg levels, correlating with a stronger reduction in NK cell numbers. “This is the first and strongest evidence to show that Tregs can selectively promote metastasis to lymph nodes but not [to] the lung,” said Wanjun Chen, chief of the mucosal immunology section and senior investigator at the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research who was not involved in the current study."

Comment: This is obvious evidence of cellular intelligence in cancer cells. These are rogue cells who have taken over control of their own destiny and have thrown off any influence by standardized control mechanisms. This shows that in multicellular organisms there are controls against autoimmune reactions. Further it shows that normal cell activities are tightly controlled. Such controls means specifically that cells are purposely constrained to do their prescribed activity and nothing more. dhw invokes cellular intelligence to cause speciation. But we see that ordinary cells are tightly controlled in their activities. The only cells that can create new species are the germ cells, which create embryos when male and female fuse together. Under dhw's thinking germ cells must go rogue, like cancer cells, to make a new species. Perhaps not: there may be a way cells communicate to germ cells the need for change. The problem with this idea is the evidence cells are so tightly controlled in their activities. That God speciates as the designer is another answer,