Fractones are a hub of stem cell function.
They allow stem cells to perform their PDMA (Proliferation, differentiation, migration, apoptosis).
It controls all the cellular dynamics and thus the morphogenesis, the cellular renewal.
A dysfunction of this hub leads to many diseases (Cancer, Inflamation, Neurodegenerative diseases...)
Fractones are extracellular matrix structures consisting of heparan sulfate proteoglycans, first identified in the physiological (disease-free) brain.
They capture, concentrate and activate growth factors that induce cell fate. Heparan sulfate proteoglycans are present in many diseases (Cancer, Charcot's disease, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's...).
In cancer, for example, our data indicate that there are at least 100 times more fractones in the tumor mass than in the equivalent healthy tissue. Fractones are present in every type of cancer we have studied. This is not the case for all other markers characterized so far.
We must take advantage of this unprecedented feature to develop therapeutic strategies to overcome cancer, and study the possibility of extending this strategy to other diseases.