Bioscience

New Mechnism of Cancer Cell Migration Discovered

Prof. Jiang Hongyuan from the Institute of Engineering Science of the University of Science and Technology of Chins (USTC) proposed a mechanobiological model for the cellular pressure and volume regulation of animal cells, based on this, he further found and proved that a new mechanism for the migration of cancer cells independent from cell adhesion but completely different with two dimensional cell migration, and elaborated that the polarized cell inside a narrow channel establishes a spatial gradient of ion channels and pumps in the cell membrane, creating a net inflow of water and ions at the cell leading edge and a net outflow of water and ions at the trailing edge. Therefore, the cell can move forward persistently in a certain direction in collaboration with Profs. Sean Sun and Konstantinos Konstantopoulos from the Johns Hopkins University. They also revealed the major role of the transport of water and ions through membranes in cell migration. The research result will contribute much to the process of cancer cell migration in human body, which is scientifically meaningful to the cancer prevention and treatment and valuable to clinical diagnosis. Their research result was recently published on magazine of Cell. Prof. Jiang Hongyuan and Prof. Kimberly Stroka from the Johns Hopkins University are first co-authors of the paper.