• HOME
  • NEWS
    • BIOENGINEERING
    • SCIENCE NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • FORUM
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
  • CONTACT US
Wednesday, January 20, 2021
BIOENGINEER.ORG
No Result
View All Result
  • Login
  • HOME
  • NEWS
    • BIOENGINEERING
    • SCIENCE NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
        • Lecturer
        • PhD Studentship
        • Postdoc
        • Research Assistant
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • FORUM
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
  • CONTACT US
  • HOME
  • NEWS
    • BIOENGINEERING
    • SCIENCE NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
        • Lecturer
        • PhD Studentship
        • Postdoc
        • Research Assistant
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • FORUM
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
  • CONTACT US
No Result
View All Result
Bioengineer.org
No Result
View All Result
Home NEWS Science News Biology

Novel mechanical mechanism of metastatic cancer cells in substrates of different stiffness revealed

Bioengineer by Bioengineer
October 16, 2020
in Biology
0
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on LinkedinShare on RedditShare on Telegram

IMAGE

Credit: HKUST

During metastasis, cancer cells actively interact with microenvironments of new tissues. How metastatic cancer cells respond to new environments in the secondary tissues is a crucial question in cancer research but still remains elusive. Recently, researchers from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST), along with their international collaborators, discovered a novel mechanical mechanism of metastatic cancer cells in substrates of different stiffness, which could contribute to developing diagnostic tools for metastatic cancer cells and cancer therapeutics.

This study was published in the Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters on Sept 18, 2020.

In the study, the team of researchers, led by Prof. Hyokeun Park, assistant professor at the Department of Physics and Division of Life Science, HKUST, mimicked mechanical stiffness of diverse tissues from soft brain to bone using polyacrylamide (PAA) substrates and measured the mechanical responses of single metastatic breast cancer cells (MDA-MB-231 cells) against different stiffness, using advanced imaging techniques and the state-of-the-art magnetic tweezers which Prof. Park’s group built in HKUST.

Using single-molecule tension sensors, they found that metastatic breast cancer cells change their tension in focal adhesions against the stiffness to adapt new environments whereas normal breast cells (MCF-10A cells) keep the similar tension regardless of stiffness. They also measured the viscoelasticity of single metastatic breast cancer cells using magnetic tweezers and found that metastatic cancer cells become more elastic on stiffer substrates while the viscoelasticity of normal cells remain similar.

These results show that metastatic breast cancer cells have stronger capacity to adapt to the mechanical environments of diverse tissues.

“How do metastatic breast cancer cells migrate and proliferate the secondary tissues of different stiffness from soft to hard tissue interface like brain to bone is a crucial question in cancer research,” said Prof. Park. “Our work addressed how metastatic breast cancer cells proliferate the substrate of varying stiffness from 1kPa (similar to brain) to 50GPa(similar to bone), and we discovered that metastatic cancer cells change their viscoelasticity depending on physical environment to adapt their new physical environment and survive their new environment. This is one of big achievements in cancer physics and mechanobiology. The findings will contribute to developing diagnostic tools for metastatic cancer cells and, eventually, treatment of cancer.”

This work was done in collaboration with Prof. Ching-Hwa Kiang at Rice University, Professor Jun Chu at Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology and Prof. Ophelia Tsui in Department of Physics of HKUST.

The team is planning to develop a cancer diagnostic kit making use of the mechanism to measure tension of living potential cancer cells at different stiffness, which will be much simpler and more user-friendly than the existing diagnosis tools for metastatic cancer cells. Such mechanism could also be used to develop a drug-screening test for metastatic cancer to see how metastatic cancer cells’ focal adhesion and viscoelasticity respond to different drugs and find the most effective drug for them.

###

Media Contact
Johnny Tam
[email protected]

Related Journal Article

http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpclett.0c02065

Tags: BiologyBiomechanics/BiophysicsBreast CancercancerCell BiologyMedicine/Health
Share12Tweet8Share2ShareShareShare2

Related Posts

IMAGE

Unlocking ‘the shape of water’ in mechanisms of antibiotic resistance

January 19, 2021
IMAGE

Disease threatens to decimate western bats

January 19, 2021

With a little help from their friends, older birds breed successfully

January 19, 2021

Study identifies a nonhuman primate model that mimics severe COVID-19 similar to humans

January 19, 2021
Next Post
IMAGE

Energy System 2050: solutions for the energy transition

IMAGE

RUDN University soil scientist: Paddy soil fertilization can help reduce greenhouse effect

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

POPULAR NEWS

  • IMAGE

    The map of nuclear deformation takes the form of a mountain landscape

    54 shares
    Share 22 Tweet 14
  • Blood pressure drug may be key to increasing lifespan, new study shows

    44 shares
    Share 18 Tweet 11
  • New drug form may help treat osteoporosis, calcium-related disorders

    40 shares
    Share 16 Tweet 10
  • People living with HIV face premature heart disease and barriers to care

    60 shares
    Share 24 Tweet 15

About

We bring you the latest biotechnology news from best research centers and universities around the world. Check our website.

Follow us

Tags

MaterialsPublic HealthClimate ChangeChemistry/Physics/Materials SciencesBiologyInfectious/Emerging DiseasesMedicine/HealthTechnology/Engineering/Computer ScienceEcology/EnvironmentGeneticscancerCell Biology

Recent Posts

  • Genome editing to treat human retinal degeneration
  • Do simulations represent the real world at the atomic scale?
  • Protected areas vulnerable to growing emphasis on food security
  • Constructing termite turrets without a blueprint
  • Contact Us

© 2019 Bioengineer.org - Biotechnology news by Science Magazine - Scienmag.

No Result
View All Result
  • Homepages
    • Home Page 1
    • Home Page 2
  • News
  • National
  • Business
  • Health
  • Lifestyle
  • Science

© 2019 Bioengineer.org - Biotechnology news by Science Magazine - Scienmag.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Create New Account!

Fill the forms below to register

All fields are required. Log In

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In