Scientists from NUST MISIS, Kanazawa and London universities have discovered that the elasticity of the cell surface, which changes with the development of the disease and under the influence of anticancer drugs, can act as a potential cancer marker. NUST MISIS told socialbites.ca about this.
In metastatic melanoma, the most aggressive type of skin cancer, the tumor begins in the cells in the lowest layer of the epidermis. Melanoma cells grow, move into the middle layer of the skin, and then enter the blood or lymphatic system. Using a scanning ion conductive microscope (the only installation in Russia is located at NUST MISIS), the scientists evaluated the Young’s modulus, an indicator characterizing the ability of an object to resist tension or compression. They found that cancer cells had a decrease in Young’s modulus, meaning they were less rigid than healthy cells.
The scientists also examined how different drugs affected the Young’s module and cytoskeleton of cancer cells, a system of microtubules that plays an important role in cell division.
“We evaluated the changes in cell elastic modulus after the application of three different anticancer drugs. It turned out that paclitaxel and cisplatin treatment significantly increased the Young’s modulus and the number of microtubules, which are parts of the cytoskeleton. The most effective drug that inhibits cell division is paclitaxel. On the contrary, when treated with dacarbazine, there is a decrease in the elastic modulus.” reduction was observed,” senior researcher Ph.D., NUST MISIS Biophysics Laboratory, told socialbites.ca. Peter Gorelkin.
Previous scientists in the name A virus that can cause blood cancer.