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Tumor cells march one by one in narrow vessels!

Metastasis is responsible for 90% of cancer-related deaths and is driven by tumor cells circulating in blood. However, it is believed that only individual tumor cells can reach distant organs because multicellular clusters are too large to pass through narrow capillaries.

Sam Au of Harvard Medical School and colleagues, after collecting evidence by examining clusters in microscale devices, computational simulations, and animals reported in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that clusters of cancer cells can slide through capillary tubes less than 10 micrometers wide, by unfolding into a cellular chain. In narrow blood vessels, tumor cells go marching one by one.

They found that clusters may transit through capillaries by unfolding into single-file chains. This previously unidentified cell behavior may explain why previous experiments reported that clusters were more efficient at seeding metastases than equal numbers of single tumor cells, and has led to a strategy that, if applied clinically, may reduce the incidence of metastasis in patients.

Experiments showed that human breast and prostate cancer cells used this single-file strategy to travel through lab-made tubes, human cell‒lined tubes and the blood vessels of live zebrafish.  These results could

offer insights into ways to foil cancer’s spread.

 

Peace-lover, creative, smart and intelligent. Prapti is a foodie, music buff and a travelholic. After leaving a top-notch full time corporate job, she now works as an Online Editor for Biotecnika. Keen on making a mark in the scientific publishing industry, she strives to find a work-life balance. Follow her for more updates!