Pathways to Cancer

Cancer has proved difficult to defeat in part because there are many different types of tumours, each behaving and reacting to treatments in different ways. For example, lung cancer is an umbrella term for many types of tumours caused by mutations that cause different lung cells to multiply abnormally. One thing, however, that unites several types of lung cancers is their link to mutations in two molecular pathways involved in cell division – MAP kinase and PI3’-kinase. Scientists have now shown that mice with genetic mutations that activate one of these pathways individually either had no tumours or small benign ones. But if both were activated together the mice developed aggressive cancerous lung tumours, shown here with lung cancer cells illuminated in red. These genetically engineered mice could help us understand how lung tumours develop and how future treatments could target these two important molecular pathways.

Written by Gaëlle Coullon

Gaëlle Coullon

Writer

Gaëlle is a consultant and trainer in research communication and commercialisation. As an ex-neuroscientist, she is always looking for new ways to combine her love of writing with everything brain related.

• Image from work by J Edward van Veen and colleagues
• Huntsman Cancer Institute, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA
• Image originally published under a Creative Commons Licence (BY 4.0)
• Published in eLife, August 2019