Scientists Discover How Cancer Cells Hide Behind a Sugar Shield

High blood sugar may help cancer cells hide behind a sugar-rich shield, according to researchers from Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute and partner institutions across North America.

The protective coating, known as the glycocalyx, covers the surface of cells. Researchers found that changes in the tumour microenvironment can affect how effectively cancer cells use it to hide. That environment includes immune cells, connective tissue, blood vessels, proteins and carbohydrates surrounding a tumour.

The team, led by Kevin Tarp, studied how physical pressure and nutrient conditions influence cancer-cell behaviour. Primary tumours are typically stiffer than nearby tissue, Tarp said, prompting the researchers to examine whether the physical properties of cells help drive the altered metabolic programmes commonly observed in tumours.

Researchers exposed cancer cells to high levels of glucose under several conditions. Some cells grew in stiff environments designed to mimic primary tumours, while others grew in softer environments resembling normal tissue. The team also used either a standard laboratory medium or a physiological medium designed to more closely match the nutrients found in the human body. Both media were tested under normal and elevated glucose levels.

The different environments changed the proteins produced by the cells, their internal metabolite concentrations and the thickness of their surface sugar layer. Excess glucose increased glycocalyx thickness only when cells grew in the physiological medium. The researchers also identified a potential way to reduce the sugar-rich layer, which could make it easier for the immune system to recognise and remove cancer cells. The findings appeared in Science Advances.

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Primary tumours are usually stiffer than the surrounding tissue.