Page 8 - LabMedya - ENG - 07

/labmedya

8 HEALTH AND LABORATORY MAGAZINE

“TENTACLES”

HELP CANCER CELLS TO

INVADE OUR BODY

New insight on a fundamental

mechanism in all living cells!

With help from the best With their new study, The discovery is not that be compared to a rubber could simulate the
tweezers in the world a team of Danish filopodia act as sensory band. Untwisted, a rubber mechanical movements
a team of researchers researchers has added to devices – which was band has no power. But we witnessed through the
from the University of the world’s understanding already well established – if you twist it, it contracts. microscope, completely
Copenhagen has shed of how cells use octopus- but rather about how they This combination of independent of chemical
new light on a fundamental like tentacles called can rotate and behave twisting and contraction and biological details,”
mechanism in all living cells filopodia to move around in mechanically, which helps helps a cell move explains Poul Martin
that helps them explore our bodies. This discovery a cell move, as when a directionally and makes Bendix.
their surroundings and about how cells move had cancer cell invades new the filopodia very flexible.
even invade tissue. Their never been addressed. tissue. The main reason that the
discovery could have The study is being “They’re able to bend — team succeeded in being
implications for research published in the Nature “Obviously, our results twist, if you will — in a way the first to describe the
into cancer, neurological Communications. are of interest to cancer that allows them to explore mechanical behavior of
disorders, and much else. researchers. Cancer cells the entire space around filopodia is that NBI has
“While the cell doesn’t have are noted for their being the cell, and they can even unique equipment for this
Using octopus-like eyes or a sense of smell, highly invasive and it is penetrate tissues in their type of experiment, as well
tentacles, a cell pushes its surface is equipped reasonable to believe environment,” says lead as skilled researchers with
toward its target, a with ultra-slim filopodia that they are especially author, Natascha Leijnse. tremendous experience
bacterium, like a predator that resemble entangled dependent on the working with optical
tracking down its prey. octopus tentacles. These efficacy of their filopodia, The mechanism discovered tweezers. When an
The scene could be filopodia help a cell move in terms of examining by the Danish researchers object is extraordinarily
playing out in a nature towards a bacterium, their surroundings and appears to be found in all small, holding onto it
program. Instead the and at the same time, act facilitating their spread. living cells. Besides cancer mechanically becomes
pursuit is being observed as sensory feelers that So, it’s conceivable that by cells, it is also relevant to impossible. However, it
at the nano-scale through identify the bacterium finding ways of inhibiting study the importance of can be held and moved
a microscope at the as a prey,” explains the filopodia of cancer filopodia in other types of using a laser beam with
University of Copenhagen’s Associate Professor cells, cancer growth can be cells, such as embryonic a wavelength carefully
Niels Bohr Institute. The Poul Martin Bendix, head stalled,” explains Associate stem cells and brain cells, calibrated to the object
microscope recording of the laboratory for Professor Poul Martin which are highly dependent being studied. These are
shows a human immune experimental biophysics at Bendix. on filopodia for their called optical tweezers.
cell pursuing and then the Niels Bohr Institute. development.
devouring a bacterium. For this reason, “At NBI, we have some of
researchers from the STUDYING CELLS WITH the world’s best optical
Danish Cancer Society THE BEST TWEEZERS IN tweezers for biomechanical
Research Center are a THE WORLD studies. The experiments
part of the team behind require the use of several
the discovery. Among The project involved optical tweezers and the
other things, the cancer interdisciplinary simultaneous deployment
researchers are interested collaboration at the Niels of ultra-fine microscopy,”
in whether switching off Bohr Institute, where explains Poul Martin
the production of certain Associate Professor Bendix.
The mechanical function of filopodia can be compared to proteins can inhibit the Amin Doostmohammadi,
a rubber band. Untwisted, a rubber band has no power. But transport mechanisms who heads a research Reference: “Filopodia
if you twist it, it contracts. This combination of twisting and which are important for the group that simulates rotate and coil by actively
contraction helps a cell move directionally and makes the filopodia of cancer cells. biologically active generating twist in their
filopodia very flexible. The mechanism discovered by the materials, contributed with actin shaft” 28 March 2022,
Danish researchers appears to be found in all living cells. THE CELL’S ENGINE the modeling of filopodia Nature Communications.
Besides cancer cells, it is also relevant to study the impor- behavior.
tance of filopodia in other types of cells, such as embryonic According to Poul Martin
stem cells and brain cells, which are highly dependent on
filopodia for their development. Bendix, the mechanical “It is very interesting that
function of filopodia can Amin Doostmohammadi
Credit: Niels Bohr Institute / University of Copenhagen