Credit-card sized tool provides new insights into how cancer cells
invade host tissues

Date:
July 15, 2020
Source:
University of Toronto Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering
Summary:
Researchers have developed a credit-card sized tool for growing
cancer cells outside the human body, which they believe will
enhance their understanding of breast cancer metastasis. The device
reproduces various environments within the human body where breast
cancer cells live.

Studying the cells as they go through the process of invasion and
metastasis could point the way toward new biomarkers and drugs to
diagnose and treat cancer.



FULL STORY ==========================================================================
A group of researchers from the University of Toronto have developed
a credit- card sized tool for growing cancer cells outside the human
body, which they believe will enhance their understanding of breast
cancer metastasis.


==========================================================================
The device, described in a paper published today in Science Advances, reproduces various environments within the human body where breast cancer
cells live. Studying the cells as they go through the process of invasion
and metastasis could point the way toward new biomarkers and drugs to
diagnose and treat cancer.

"Metastasis is what makes cancer so deadly," says Professor Aaron
Wheeler, the corresponding author of this publication, whose lab is
located in the University of Toronto's Donnelly Centre for Cellular and Biomolecular Research.

"If cancer cells would simply stay in one spot, it would be 'easy' to
excise them and cure the disease." "But when cancer metastasizes, cancer
cells move through the body, making the disease difficult to treat. We
decided to apply our expertise in microfluidics to develop a new tool to
aid in studying how cancer cells begin to invade into surrounding tissues
in the first steps in metastasis." Normally metastasis is studied in a
petri dish cell culture or in whole animals. However, these model systems present problems in terms of cost, efficiency, or lack of representation.

"An oversimplified system like cells in petri dishes doesn't mimic what
happens in the body, while in an animal model, it's difficult to isolate
and study parameters that govern the invasiveness of a cell." says
Betty Li, a senior PhD student and leading author of the paper. "Our
system gives us control over all the specific parameters that we want
to look at, while allowing us to make structures that better resemble
what happens to the body." The device consists of patterned metal
electrodes which can move extremely small droplets around through the
use of electric fields. By selectively changing the water-repelling
properties of the surface at various points, researchers can 'pinch'
off the water droplets and form precise shapes.



==========================================================================
In the paper, the researchers describe how they used a collagen matrix
coated with a layer of basal membrane extract to mimic the structure
of the breast tissue seen by breast cancer cells during the first step
of metastasis.

By placing cancer cells outside of these tissue mimics, researchers could observe the invasion process in detail, including measurements of speed
and location.

"One interesting thing we observed is that not all cancer cells within
the same population have the same invasiveness," says Li, "Some invaded
into the tissue mimics while others did not, which prompted us to look
at what gives the invaded cells such an advantage." Li and her team
extracted cancer cells at various distances from the invasion point and subjected these cells to genetic sequencing.

"We identified 244 different genes that are differentially expressed
between the cancer cells that invaded versus the ones that didn't
invade. This means that using the tool we developed, researchers in the
future can develop therapeutics that target some of these genes to halt
the cancer metastasis." says Li.

"We think this type of tool will be quite useful to the community,
as cell invasion is important in cancer and also a host of other (non-pathological) processes, like tissue growth, differentiation,
and repair." says Wheeler.


========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by University_of_Toronto_Faculty_of_Applied_Science_& Engineering. Original written by Qin Dai. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Bingyu B. Li, Erica Y. Scott, M. Dean Chamberlain, Bill T. V. Duong,
Shuailong Zhang, Susan J. Done, Aaron R. Wheeler. Cell invasion
in digital microfluidic microgel systems. Science Advances, 2020;
6 (29): eaba9589 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aba9589 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/07/200715142340.htm

--- up 1 hour, 54 minutes
* Origin: -=> Castle Rock BBS <=- Now Husky HPT Powered! (1337:3/111)