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Osmotic Engine Model of Tumour Spread: A Water Machine That Propels Cancer
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In a very intriguing research carried out at the Johns Hopkins University, researchers have unveiled an interesting mode of spreading used by the deadly tumour cells. A propulsion system based on water and charged particles has been introduced, which is proposed to have been used by the tumour cells to spread through extremely narrow three-dimensional spaces in the body. This interesting study marks the need for moving out of the boundaries of the 2D cell-culture studies carried out in controlled conditions of petridishes! Following is a graphical abstract of the concept:

[Image: 1495c.jpg]


Till date, it has been believed (through the 2D petridish based studies), that the cancer cells need actin and other proteins to grip and crawl through the flat surfaces. This has infact been considered the basis of metastasis (spread of tumour systemically) till date. Image below summarizes the mentioned concept:
[Image: ijbsv03p0303g01.jpg]
(courtesy:http://www.ijbs.com)
Thus, deactivation of these actin grips was considered one of the probable ways to curb the spread of the disease, untill in 2012, when Dr. Konstantinos Konstantopoulos (chair person of the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, John Hopkins) made the astonishing discovery that cancer cells could move through narrow spaces even without the need of actin filaments or other proteins. That finding ultimately led to further study to decipher the mechanism behind that movement, and which came to fruit with the recent publication in the April 24 issue of the journal Cell.

The tests were carried out in a lab-on-a-chip microfluidic device with state of art imaging techniques, which lead to the development of the Osmotic Engine Model that propels the cancer cells through the tight spaces even without the need of actin filaments. The Osmotic engine is actually a combination of sodium-hydrogen ions, cell membrane proteins called aquaporins, and water. Acting more or less like a Sailboat, tumour cells tend to generate a flow of liquid that takes in water and ions at a cell's leading edge and pumps them out the trailing edge, propelling the cell forward (refer image above).

The Osmotic Model thus highlights following points (as suggested in the article):
1. Actin-independent Movement
2. Polarized distribution of Na+/H+ pumps and aquaporins in confined regions leading to propulsion mechanism
3. Dependency of speed and movement on osmotic conditions of the growth region.
4. Water permeation can thus drive movement through narrow channels

The new biochemical model thus gives us a reason to look into the wider and different aspects of cancer growth. And, infact it reasons as to why some forms of cancer dont respond to a common treatment mode. Whereas this research is in quite an infant stage, the future does seem fruitful and productive in fighting the deadly disease of cancer.

About the source:
The article has been published in the latest issue of the Cell, and titled as "Water Permeation Drives Tumor Cell Migration in Confined Microenvironments"
Authors: Kimberly M. Stroka, Hongyuan Jiang, Shih-Hsun Chen, Ziqiu Tong, Denis Wirtz, Sean X. Sun, Konstantinos Konstantopoulos

Link to abstract: http://www.cell.com/cell/abstract/S0092-...%2900340-7

Courtesy: http://www.sciencedaily.com (For the first report on this article)
Sunil Nagpal
MS(Research) Scholar, IIT Delhi (Alumnus)
Advisor for the Biotech Students portal (BiotechStudents.com)
Computational Researcher in BioSciences at a leading MNC


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