|
CELLULAR BIOLOGY
Keeping Tumors From Becoming Killers
 |
|
Thomas Griffin
|
A cancerous tumor is one that has the deadly ability
to spread uncontrollably to other parts of the body. If a tumor
could be confined to its original location, it could simply be
removed and cancer virtually would be nonexistent, says George
Plopper, assistant professor of biology.
A small tumor can shed a million cells a day into
the blood stream. Most of the cells die, but some of them survive
and migrate to other parts of the body. Plopper is researching
how these tumor cells reach their new destinations. His work could
lead to new drug inhibitors or biomaterials that target the chemical
composition of abnormal cells.
The extracellular matrix (ECM)—proteins and
other materials that surround tissue cells—provides a barrier
that limits the migration of most normal cells. A distinguishing
characteristic of cancer cells is their disregard for these tissue
barriers.
A small tumor can shed a million cells a
day into the blood stream. Most of the cells die, but some
of them survive and migrate to other parts of the body. Plopper
is researching how these tumor cells reach their new destinations.
His work could lead to new drug inhibitors or biomaterials
that target the chemical composition of abnormal cells.
|
|
Abnormal cells that escape the ECM barrier end
up in the blood stream. They reach their final destination at
the end of a capillary, the one-cell thick blood vessels embedded
in tissue that connect arteries and veins. At this stage, a tumor
cell attaches itself to the endothelial cells.
Plopper’s goal is to find out how tumor cells
communicate with these endothelial cells. One possibility is that
a protein secreted from a rogue cell may cut a path, which allows
that cell to enter its destination. The idea, then, would be to
inhibit such proteins in specific cells.
CONTACT: Theresa Bourgeois, (518) 276-2840,
bourgt@rpi.edu
|
