Zinc, an important trace element for healthy growth and development, can be related to pancreatic cancer. Too much ZIP4, a molecule that enables the transport of zinc into cells, promotes the growth and spread of pancreatic tumors cells, said a group of researchers from Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center and the University of Florida in Gainesville, in a report which appears online today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
“Zinc plays a critical role in our bodies functioning properly,” said Dr. Min Li, assistant professor of the Michael E. DeBakey Department of Surgery at BCM, and lead author of the study. “Zinc must be regulated through proteins called zinc transporters to keep us healthy.”
A previous study by one of Li's collaborators, Dr. Craig Logsdon, professor and Lockton Distinguished Professor for Pancreatic Cancer Research at M.D. Anderson, identified high levels of ZIP4 in pancreatic cancer tissue. Li's current study confirmed those findings and also showed that overexpressed ZIP4 increases zinc uptake by the cell, which results in significantly increased tumor growth.
“We need to put these in a big picture and look at the zinc and zinc transporters as a whole in regulating pancreatic cancer growth. There is no simple answer at this point on the role zinc itself is playing,” said Li.
“This study shows strong evidence that the zinc transporter is over expressed in pancreatic cancer,” said Dr. Changyi (Johnny) Chen, Molecular Surgery Endowed Chair, professor of surgery and vice chair for research in the Michael E. DeBakey Department of Surgery at BCM. “Our next step for research will ask why this happens in pancreatic cancer.”