New Device Provides A Microscopic Look At Cancer Metastasis
By Chuck Seegert, Ph.D.
A new medical device that includes collagen tissues and vessels lined with endothelial cells has revealed previously unknown cancer cell behaviors. This system, developed by Johns Hopkins researchers, provides a dynamic, high resolution glimpse into cancer metastasis.
Cancer metastasis is one of the greatest challenges in cancer medicine. Many times, the first tumor is successfully treated, but not before the cancer has spread to many distant sites. There are many theories as to how cancer metastasizes, but it is not a well understood process. In order to develop a better understanding, Johns Hopkins researchers developed a device to evaluate metastasis at a microscopic level, according to a recent press release from Johns Hopkins University.
“There’s still so much we don’t know about exactly how tumor cells migrate through the body, partly because, even using our best imaging technology, we haven’t been able to see precisely how these individual cells move into blood vessels,” said Andrew D. Wong, a Department of Materials Science and Engineering doctoral student, in the press release. “Our new tool gives us a clearer, close-up look at this process.”
The device is a special culture system that is designed to examine two processes called invasion and intravasion, according to the press release. Invasion is the process that allows cells to pass through tissue, leaving the original tumor behind, and intravasion is the process of the cancer cell invading the blood stream, where it is carried away to a distant site, thus seeding a new tumor.
The design uses a 3D collagen matrix to represent human tissue that surrounds an artificial blood vessel lined with umbilical endothelial cells, according to a study published by the team in Cancer Research. Cancer cells were put in proximity of the vessel and, with live cell fluorescent microscopy, their behavior was captured. Cancer cells were observed to burrow through the collagen matrix until they contacted the blood vessel. Once there, they disrupted the endothelial layer and gained access to the lumen of the vessel.
The model system demonstrated initial results that may pave the way for more systematic studies about metastasis, and the device could potentially be used to investigate anti-metastatic therapies.
Understanding cancer metastasis is a critical need for cancer medicine and is therefore the focus of many research teams. Recently in an article published on Med Device Online, another model system for studying metastasis was discussed.
Image Credit: Wong/Searson Lab