In 2022 alone, over 20 million people were diagnosed with cancer, and nearly 10 million died from the disease, according to the World Health Organization. While the reaches of cancer are massive, the answer to more effective treatments may be hidden within a microscopic cell. Led by Texas A&M University graduate students Samere Zade of the biomedical engineering department and Ting-Ching Wang of the chemical engineering department, an article released by the Lele Lab has uncovered new details about the mechanism behind cancer progression.
Published in Nature Communications , the article explores the influence the mechanical stiffening of the tumor cell's environment may have on the structure and function of the nucleus. Cancer has proven to be a difficult disease to treat. It is extremely complex and the molecular mechanisms that enable tumor progression are not understood.
Our findings shed new light into how the stiffening of tumor tissue can promote tumor cell proliferation." Dr. Tanmay Lele, joint faculty in the biomedical engineering and chemical engineering departments, Texas A&M University In the article, researchers reveal that when a cell is faced with a stiff environment, the nuclear lamina -; scaffolding that helps the nucleus keep its shape and structure -; becomes unwrinkled and taut as the cell spreads on the stiff surface.
This spreading causes yes-associated protein (YAP), the protein that regulates the multiplication of cells, to move to the nucleus. That loc.