The reason heart cancer is so rare has been identified. A heartbeat can suppress tumor growth at the cellular level.
The protein Nesprin-2, located in the membrane around the cell nucleus, acts as a highly sensitive vibration sensor. When the heart contracts, Nesprin-2 triggers processes inside the cell that slow tumor division. The cell perceives the rhythm of the heartbeat as an instruction not to reproduce.
Researchers implanted lung cancer cells into the hearts of laboratory mice. In normally beating hearts, the tumor grew significantly more slowly. Similar results were obtained in laboratory experiments with heart tissue. The lower the mechanical load, the faster the tumor grows and spreads.
The heartbeat also affects epigenetics — the system of “add-ons” on top of DNA that determines which genes the cell turns on and which it keeps in a dormant state. Under mechanical load, the activity of markers associated with tumor growth decreased.
Until now, cancer has mostly been attacked with chemistry, the immune system, or genetic technologies. Now an idea is emerging that a tumor can also be restrained by the physical properties of tissue: creating an environment so uncomfortable for it that it becomes difficult to multiply.
One concept is special devices or belts that would create rhythmic pressure on a tumor, mimicking a heartbeat. At the same time, another path is being studied — drugs that could reproduce the same effect without physical воздействие, by influencing the cell's epigenetic mechanisms.
However, there is a risk that in some conditions mechanical stress may not suppress a tumor, but instead help it spread. So first it is necessary to understand where the line lies between useful pressure and dangerous stimulation. But perhaps, indeed, movement is life?
