Cancer is the second leading cause of death globally, with almost 1 in every 6 deaths attributed to the disease. It is, therefore, no surprise that so much time and resources are spent trying to find treatments and prevention strategies. In 2021, researchers revealed that they had discovered that a particular type of collagen may potentially help keep cancer cells dormant. This is a significant discovery, considering that many patients’ bodies contain dormant cancerous cells that awaken after 5 to 10 years. These cells arise in a different organ than before with an uncontrollable potency. This process is known as metastasizing and is responsible for the majority of cancer-related deaths.
The Effect of Collagen on Cancer Cells
Type III collagen is a vital component of the connective tissues surrounding the cells in your body. It was this particular protein that the researchers focused on for the study. Mice studies revealed that dormant cancer cells were surrounded by a significantly greater amount of type III collagen than the active cells. This was followed by studies involving head and neck cancer patients, and a similar pattern was observed by the researchers. In cases where the cancer had spread to a patient’s lymph nodes, the primary tumors were found to have lower type III collagen levels. This finding indicates that if type III collagen levels decrease, cancer cells may potentially reactivate and begin to spread to other organs in the body.
According to the researchers, the collagen surrounding cancer cells diminishes gradually over time. There is a specific critical point in which the reduction in type III collagen coincides with the reactivation of the previously dormant cancerous cells. The typically wavy signal pathways used by collagen to maintain the dormant state grow linear as the levels begin to diminish. It is this disruption that researchers think triggers the dormant cells into action again.
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The Potential Benefits of This Discovery
The discovery of type III collagen’s role in cancer cell dormancy provides researchers with a potential biomarker. This could be used to try to predict when a tumor may start to spread. It also allows for the development of new treatments that substitute the environment of the tumor with collagen scaffolding. These collagen-based scaffolds could potentially prevent the growth and metastasis of cancer. This process has already been observed in real-time when the team studied mice using advanced microscopy technologies.
Collagen itself has long been known to have health benefits, specifically for joint health and skin care. This study has now revealed that its benefits even extend to cancer prevention. Considering all these health benefits, you may be interested to know how to increase your collagen intake. There are many foods that are rich in collagen, including fish and chicken skin, and bone broth. If you are looking for a quick and easy way to increase your collagen levels, you can also get collagen supplements. Your body needs vitamin C for collagen synthesis, so make sure to eat foods that are rich in this vitamin. Collagen production also requires certain amino acids, such as proline and glycine, so be sure to eggs, dairy, and lean meat.
The Bottom Line
Maintaining the proper collagen levels can have a positive effect on your overall health for many reasons. As recent studies suggest, a drop in type III collagen over time coincides with the re-emergence of dormant cancer cells. Studying this process could provide insight into how to accurately predict when these tumors could arise once again. However, while much has been learned through mice trials, these results are yet to be translated to human studies. There are several ways to make sure you are getting enough collagen into your body, such as eating collagen-rich foods and taking supplements. You can also help prevent collagen damage and loss by avoiding excessive sun exposure, smoking, and sugar intake.
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