Posted on 05/04/2018 1:25:09 PM PDT by Red Badger
Stiffer breast tissue creates an environment more prone to cancer by enabling the disease to interfere with the surrounding healthy cells, according to a recent study published in Biomaterials.
Scientists studying tumor growth and metastasis at the University of Notre Dame fabricated a human tissue model to examine how cancer cells interact with connective tissue in the breast. The model allowed the team to control the stiffness of the tissue, mimicking both healthy and cancerous breast tissue structures. They found manipulation of fat cells to be stiffness-dependent.
"One of the interesting things we're looking at is how cancer interacts with surrounding cells and how it manipulates those cells to its own benefit," said Pinar Zorlutuna, assistant professor in the Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering and the Harper Cancer Research Institute at the University of Notre Dame. "The goal of these tissue engineered cancer models is to mimic the physiological environment of the tumor, so we can use them as a platform to study breast cancer in the human tissue microenvironment."
Fat cells, collagen fibers and epithelial cells make up the microenvironment of breast tissue. Cancer typically appears around the epithelial cells. Previous studies looking at differences between healthy and cancerous tissue found that the cancerous tissue differed in stiffness. According to Zorlutuna's study, stiff tissue can present a microenvironment susceptible to tumor growth by enabling the cancer cells to modulate its surrounding connective tissue cells.
"If you have a stiffer environment, the cancer cell can do more manipulation of its immediate microenvironment," Zorlutuna said. "The model allowed us to study varying levels of stiffness in the tissue. In tissue with normal stiffness, the cancer cells did not interfere with the state of the surrounding stromal cells. In tests where the tissue was stiffer, the cancer halted the differentiation process of the surrounding fat stem cells, favoring a more stem cell-like state creating a microenvironment that favors a tumor to grow."
Researchers have typically conducted similar studies using animal models. While these tests can help advance an understanding of the disease, Zorlutuna said they could also pose a challenge.
"Animals and humans are quite different," she said. "If you're looking at tissue environment, mobility and the immune system, mouse models, for example, are as different to human models as the pancreas is to the lung."
Those models can also pose a challenge to drug discovery. A fraction of the drugs proven effective in mice actually makes it through clinical trials when tested on humans, Zorlutuna said. The results of this study could help make the case for tissue engineered human disease models to be used as part of a parallel approach to drug screening before administering those drugs in clinical trials.
Explore further: 'Local environment' plays key role in breast cancer progression
More information: Xiaoshan Yue et al. Stromal cell-laden 3D hydrogel microwell arrays as tumor microenvironment model for studying stiffness dependent stromal cell-cancer interactions, Biomaterials (2018). DOI: 10.1016/j.biomaterials.2018.04.001
Journal reference: Biomaterials
Provided by: University of Notre Dame
OK. No more looking at Playboy!
“Cancer cells thrive in stiff tissue, according to new study”
I won’t say a word.
The said I’d go blind, but that didn’t stop me either.
You know, "breasts"?
(Okay, now -I- need to go take a cold shower...)
Sorry, missed you with the “breasts” post.
“Guys! Guys! They’re talking about BREASTS here.
You know, “breasts”?
Yeah, but they cause stiffness in their own right.
Not sure the writer of this article knew what the impact of the title and content would be on a man. lol. As a female I’ve enjoyed reading the comments ;D. Breasts. Stiff tissue. Nuff said. The writer clearly has had their ‘head’ too long above a microscope. lol.
My they all die so..................
Interesting post - thanks.
I presume this is why research into vaccines and antibiotics and antivirals is largely funded by government and non-profit organizations.
The “cure” issue will not just affect pharmaceutical companies.
The entire health industry will be impacted as more and more chronic diseases are eliminated.
On the other hand, I think “palliative medicine” will survive for many, many more centuries, no matter how much research money is spent.
Bottom Line - the human body is the most complex machine in the known universe. Maintaining and repairing it will be very expensive for a very long time.
Bottom line, if people would just stop poisoning themselves and let their body do what it knows how to do, the “epidemic of disease” would resolve itself.
.02
(but yes, arguably there will be push-back against anything which removes a body from the medical turnstile...)
Your post is click bait...I came here for the pictures but you made me read an article from a medical journal! ;>)
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