New Prognostic Marker Under Study in Metastatic Prostate Cancer
Posted: Thursday, June 6, 2019
Enhanced blebbing may be used as a new prognostic marker for metastatic prostate cancer, as highly metastatic prostate cancer cells form more blebs than normal cells when flowing through a microfluidic channel. In this case, when metastatic cancer cells “bleb,” portions of the cells’ outer layer bulge outward form the more rigid inner layer. Fazle Hussain, PhD, of Texas Tech University, and colleagues published their research findings using this new technology in Biomicrofluidics.
“This is a potentially significant finding which may provide simple and inexpensive diagnostic methods for detecting early and advanced cancer, particularly metastatic cancer,” said Dr. Hussain in an American Institute of Physics press release.
The team created a device that pushes cell samples through channels less than 10 μm wide to mimic the travel of cells through tumor extracellular matrices. The device may be adapted for high-throughput clinical applications.
When metastatic cells are put through the device, they begin to bleb and travel via pseudopodia. Approximately 56% of metastatic cells produced blebs, whereas 19% of normal cells created blebs—a 27% increase. Additionally, metastatic cells had a lower stiffness compared with normal cells. When using hypo-osmotic assays, highly metastatic cells were found to show 22% more blebbing than moderately metastatic cells and 30% more blebbing than normal cells.
The increase in blebbing was found to be due to both higher moesin levels and reduced F-actin levels in comparison to normal cells. The decrease in F-actin suggests that actin polymerization and organization may play a large role in prostate cancer cell blebbing and mechanics, as there are fewer binding sites for proteins to anchor onto the plasma membrane. However, ezrin and myosin II protein levels were consistent between metastatic and normal cells in this study, contrary to previous reports in the literature.
Disclosure: The study authors’s disclosure information can be found at scitation.aip.org.
