Close X
Thursday, November 28, 2024
ADVT 
Health

How Do Breast Cancer Cells Spread?

Darpan News Desk IANS, 28 Apr, 2016 11:25 AM
    A team of researchers, including an Indian-origin scientist, has found that breast cancer cells spread to other parts of the body by sliding around other cells blocking their escape route out of the original tumour.
     
    Metastasis -- the spreading of cancer cells from one part of the body to another -- is the leading cause of death among cancer patients.
     
    The researchers demonstrated a quantitative ruler for measuring how well a cell is able to slide.
     
    "By putting numbers to this cellular behaviour, we can not only discern which pathways regulate sliding, but also how much. This opens the door to finding the most powerful drivers of sliding behaviour and strategies to curb this invasive behaviour," said one of the researchers, Anand Asthagiri of Boston's Northeastern University.
     
    To invade other tissues in the body, cancer cells migrate along protein fibers that serve as a path out of the original tumour. 
     
    The findings demonstrated the key role of cell sliding in supporting metastasis, and the molecular pathways that allow this to happen, the researchers stated.
     
     
    The results provide a ruler to measure the extent to which genetic perturbations enable sliding, it offers a way to rank order molecular pathways and to identify combinations of genes that have synergistic effect on sliding potential.
     
    "Sliding, and we believe invasiveness more broadly, is a property that's progressively accrued, with each cancer-promoting event measurably shifting the degree of invasiveness. Having a ruler allows us to quantify how far cells have transformed and how effective one therapy is versus another," Asthagiri noted.
     
    For the study, published in Biophysical Journal, the team stamped a glass surface with micropatterned lines of fibronectin protein, and then used time-lapse microscopy to study collisions between pairs of cells deposited on the adhesive fibers.
     
    On micropatterns, they mimicked conditions in the tumour environment, 99 percent of normal breast cells stopped and reversed direction upon physical contact with another cell.
     
    By contrast, about half of metastatic breast cancer cells responded to collisions by sliding past the other cell, maintaining their migratory path along the protein track.

    MORE Health ARTICLES

    Few Pregnancy Deaths But Maternal Health Challenges Remain: Report

    The International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics is releasing a report on Tuesday at its triennial congress saying "more work needs to be done."

    Few Pregnancy Deaths But Maternal Health Challenges Remain: Report

    India, Germany To Cement Ties During Modi-Merkel Meet

    Merkel, who arrives here on Sunday night, is on an India visit October 4-6. She will be accompanied by a large delegation comprising cabinet ministers, and businesspersons, and will also be visiting Bengaluru.

    India, Germany To Cement Ties During Modi-Merkel Meet

    Brain Freeze: Can Putting Faith In Cryonics Deliver Life After Death?

    Brain Freeze: Can Putting Faith In Cryonics Deliver Life After Death?
    When it comes to death, there's traditionally been two forms of eternal rest: going into a coffin or ending up as ashes inside an urn.

    Brain Freeze: Can Putting Faith In Cryonics Deliver Life After Death?

    Indo-Canadian Researcher Shows Diabetes Risk For Indians And Other South Asians Begins At Birth

    Indo-Canadian Researcher Shows Diabetes Risk For Indians And Other South Asians Begins At Birth
    For Indians and other South Asians, the risks of developing Type-2 diabetes begin immediately at birth, warns a study by Indian-origin researchers.

    Indo-Canadian Researcher Shows Diabetes Risk For Indians And Other South Asians Begins At Birth

    Guidelines Aimed At Preventing Falls, Fractures In Long-Term Care Residents

    Guidelines Aimed At Preventing Falls, Fractures In Long-Term Care Residents
    If there's one thing Devora Greenspon wants to avoid, it's taking a tumble that could fracture one of her brittle bones, especially a hip.

    Guidelines Aimed At Preventing Falls, Fractures In Long-Term Care Residents

    Junk Food May Shrink Your Brain: Study

    Junk Food May Shrink Your Brain: Study
    Although the study was conducted in adults over 60 years of age, the researchers believe that the findings are relevant for people of all ages, including children.

    Junk Food May Shrink Your Brain: Study