Self-cannibalization facilitates survival.

• Position: CANCER CELLS

A single tumor-suppressing gene is a key to understanding--and perhaps killing--dormant ovarian cancer cells that hide out after initial treatment, only to reawaken years later, report researchers at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston.

The team found that expression of a gene called ARHI acts as a switch for autophagy, or self-cannibalization, in ovarian cancer cells. Often a mechanism for cancer cell death, "self-eating," in this case, acts as a survival mechanism for dormant cancer cells. "Prolonged autophagy is lethal to cancer cells, but a little autophagy can help dormant cancer cells survive, possibly by avoiding starvation," indicates senior author Robert Bast, vice president for translational research.

"Dormant cells are a major problems in ovarian cancer, breast cancer, and other malignancies. We often see ovarian cancer removed, leaving no sign of disease. After two or three years, the cancer grows back. If any remaining cancer cells had continued to grow...