Newly-Discovered Human Organ May Help Explain How Cancer Spreads

A newly discovered network of fluid-filled channels in the human body may be a previously-unknown organ, and it seems to help transport cancer cells around the body.

This discovery was made by chance, from routine endoscopies – a procedure that involves inserting a thin camera into a person’s gastrointestinal tract. Newer approaches enable doctors to use this procedure to get a microscopic look at the tissue inside a person’s gut at the same time, with some surprising results.
One team had expected to find that the bile duct is surrounded by a hard, dense wall of tissue. But instead, they saw weird, unexplained patterns.

Newly-Discovered Human Organ May Help Explain How Cancer Spreads

Cancer transport
But as well as protecting organs, the network may also aid the spread of cancer. When the team looked at samples taken from people with invasive cancers, they found evidence that cancer cells that had worked their way out of their original tissues could find their way into these channels, which took them directly to the lymphatic system. “Once they get in, it’s like they’re on a water slide,”

“We have a new window on the mechanism of tumor spread.”

Scientists and technologists are now investigating whether analyzing the fluid in these newly-discovered channels might lead to earlier diagnosis of cancers. They think the organ might also be involved in other problems, including edema, a rare liver disease, and other inflammatory disorders.

By:-  Vikas Tiwari
Department of MLT

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