Aging Increases Ovarian Cancer Growth, Metastasis, And Immunosuppression That Can Be Alleviated By Inhibiting Hedgehog Signaling
As we age, the risk and severity of many diseases, including ovarian cancer, tend to increase. Recent findings shed light on why this might be the case for ovarian cancer, revealing that the aging process itself can make these tumors grow larger, spread more aggressively, and weaken the body’s ability to fight them off.
It appears that these changes are not simply due to hormonal shifts that occur with age, but rather to more complex alterations within the tumor’s surrounding environment. Specifically, in older individuals, ovarian tumors show an increase in a cellular communication system known as “Hedgehog signaling.” This pathway, which is crucial for development in early life, can become abnormally active in cancer, contributing to tumor growth and creating an environment where the immune system is less effective.
Furthermore, aged tumors tend to have more “immunosuppressive” cells, such as certain types of macrophages (immune cells that can either fight or support cancer) and regulatory T cells (which suppress other immune responses), making it harder for the body to mount an effective anti-cancer attack. Excitingly, studies have shown that by blocking the Hedgehog signaling pathway, using a medication like vismodegib, it’s possible to reduce tumor growth, limit the spread of cancer, and decrease the number of these immunosuppressive cells, all while preserving the beneficial immune cells that fight cancer.
This discovery suggests that targeting the Hedgehog pathway could be a promising new strategy for treating older patients with ovarian cancer, or those whose tumors show signs of this pathway being overactive. It offers a potential way to not only slow cancer progression but also to re-energize the immune system to better combat the disease.
Source: link to paper