Researchers have observed for the first time how cancer cells attack and destroy the bone of leukaemia patients using a new "street view" system to zoom in and spy on the invaders.
The never-before-seen technique is tipped to revolutionise research and new treatments for any type of cancer which spreads to the bone, including from the breast, prostate or melanoma.
"In close to real time we watched the cancer cells stripping away the bone," said immunologist Edwin Hawkins, who led the Australian research team involved in the discovery. "It was like watching students at a house party trashing a place when the parents were away."
The findings explain why leukaemia patients experience debilitating bone pain - a symptom of the blood cancer which has to date stumped researchers and clinicians.
The source of that pain is likely explained by the destruction of the bone of leukaemia patients, as observed via the new microscopy technique developed by the researchers. Over a nine-hour period the researchers watched, as bone was completely destroyed.
"If from this we can develop a universal treatment for bone pain that works on all types of leukaemia, we could change the lives of thousands of Australians every year," Dr Hawkins said.
Four years in the making, the breakthrough by researchers at Parkville's Walter and Eliza Hall Institute and London's Imperial College involved studying a common kind of leukaemia called acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, or ALL.
It is the most common form of cancer in children and also affects adults. It has been problematic to treat as, like other types of leukaemia, it is resistant to chemotherapy and often returns, meaning the mortality rate is high. More than 300 Australians a year are diagnosed with the condition.
Half of adults diagnosed with leukaemia relapse after the initial chemotherapy treatment. The returned cancer, which is resistant to treatment, then spreads with fatal consequences.
This research also provided significant insights into how the cancerous cells evaded the chemotherapy treatment - a finding which contradicts decades-old theories which had suggested the cancer cells "hid" in bone marrow.
The "street view" footage showed was that, rather than hiding out, the cancerous cells were charging around the body.
"This was the first time that anybody has seen that," Dr Hawkins said. "The cancerous cells weren't going to a special area or going to sleep. They were racing around the body faster than ever before."
Establishing what they were doing and how they were interacting in their environment will open up new approaches to developing drugs to target the cancerous cells. Dr Hawkins said it was akin to David Attenborough observing animals in their natural environment - you need to see them in situ to understand them.
"Cells produce proteins which are like their legs - they use them to run around the body," Dr Hawkins said. "What we now know that if we can design chemotherapy treatments to bind to their 'legs' to stop them moving, it will stop them dead in their tracks."
The findings are published in the journal Nature on Tuesday.
