Adv Sci: Explains the molecular mechanisms by which tumor cells divide cells in crowded environments.

5, 2020 // -- In a recent study published in the international journal Advanced Science, scientists from the Dresden University of Technology and others have revealed molecular mechanisms by which cancer cells divide in crowded tumor tissue, and researchers have linked this mechanism to signs of cancer progression and metastasis (the intersessional transformation process, the EMT process).
picture source: Dr. Most animal cells in Elisabeth Fischer-Friedrich need to be turned into spheres to facilitate division, and in order to convert to spheres, cells must close and deform adjacent cells, and in growing tumor tissue, tumor cells need to divide in an environment that is more crowded than healthy tissue, which means that divided tumor cells may need to produce greater mechanical forces to gather around such dense environments, but tumor cells seem to adapt to overcome these difficulties, and researchers are curious about how tumor cells can cope with this enhanced tumor environment. the
researchers found that the EMT process may be one of the explanations for the cancer's progression, a cell transformation process in which tumor cells lose their asymmetrical tissue and isolate from adjacent cells, gaining the ability to migrate to other tissues, which in combination with other factors promotes the metastasis of tumor tissue, such as transfer to blood and lymphatic tubes, and eventually implantation in other organs. So far, the EMT process has been thought to be primarily associated with enhanced cell division and cell migration, and the results suggest that EMT also affects the migration of cancer cells by promoting successful cell rounding and cell division, according to
researcher Kamran Hosseini, a researcher who may provide researchers with a new direction to reveal how EMT promotes cancer metastasis in the body.
As we tested the maturity of individual human cells by gently squeezing fruit by hand, the scientists analyzed the mechanical properties of individual human cells, but they used atomic force microscopes to "flatten" cells, a fiber mirror that measures parameters such as the hardness and surface strain of cells before and after EMT; in the
study, researchers identified changes in tumor cells that round and grow, emT may affect the function of cancer cells in two very different ways, and the dividing tumor cells harden and the surrounding unscathed cells soften, and found that the mechanical changes they observed may be directly related to increased protein activity called Rac1, a known cytostebrae regulator.
, the researchers said that the results of this paper not only provide important ideas for the field of cell biology research, but also identify important targets to help develop new cancer therapies later on.
() Original source: Kamran Hosseini, Anna Taubenberger, Carsten Werner, et al. EMT-Induced Cell-Mechanical Changes Enhance Mitotic Rounding Strength, Advanced Science (2020). doi: 10.1002 /advs.202001276.