A study in the US, using mice and data from patients, has identified a protein involved in the spread of breast cancer to other organs— metastasis — in older individuals, which is responsible for most deaths due to cancer. 

Researchers at Georgetown’s Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center used three different mice models that mimic triple-negative breast cancer, an aggressive form of the disease, and discovered that aged mice had more metastasis than younger mice, despite having tumours of similar size. However, the increase in metastasis was suppressed in aged animals that lacked RAGE, a protein involved in inflammation that has been implicated in cancer progression. The researchers found that aged mice had higher levels of proteins that activate RAGE both in breast cancer and its metastasis.  

“Most laboratory studies rely on young mice, which has limited our understanding of how aging itself alters the host environment, including immune function and chronic inflammatory states that, in turn, influence cancer behavior,” said Barry Hudson, researcher at Georgetown Lombardi and corresponding author of the study published in Communications Biology.  

By analysing data from more than a thousand patients with breast cancer, the researchers found that worse prognosis correlated with higher activation of the gene that encodes RAGE in humans, suggesting the finding may also be relevant in humans.  

A clinical study at Lombardi is currently evaluating the safety of a drug that blocks RAGE in breast cancer patients.