The devil that is a cancer cell!

The intricate world of cells are becoming more and more intricate the more we find out. Consider a single cell floating on its own in a media/liquid. It will die, all but one type of cell. Firstly why will other cells die? Well if you were a cell, all alone no-one to talk to, no-one to share a friendly nudge with when something happens that makes you laugh. Why hang around(?), cells don’t, they will die. Cells need something, they need to be attached to something – adhesion.

Adhesion to another cell or a surface indicates to the cell that something else is there and it’s worth growing for, the cell can then multiply, and grow further to fill a space. Cells won’t grow on top of each other to any great extent, all except one type of cell. Most cells will get to a point of 100% confluency, this is where  the cells can not grow any further. They will grow on top of each other but will die soon after. This is caused by contact inhibition, communication of some kind between cells indicate the presence of to many cells and programmed death will occur.

There is only one thing I can do now 😦

One cell type in particular  does not share the  characteristics described above. If you haven’t already guessed, cancer cells are different in their behaviour. A cancer cell has the ability to survive on its own, it does not need surrounding cells to tell it that it is worth growing. A single caner cell is every bodies nightmare. Metastasis is the term given to the spread of cancer, to a different organ or area of the body. This can happen as a break away cancer cell can travel in the blood for example, lodge itself somewhere within the body and therefore spread the cancer. It is unknown or certainly unclear how these cells can do this.

On the other extreme, cancer cells will not die in overcrowded conditions. Normal cells will signal to one another that space is no longer available and we can’t keep growing. Cancer cells seem to do the opposite, “no space lets grow more” type of thing. They are prolific and can multiply very quickly, relative to their neighbouring host (normal) cells. There is no mechanism for switching off the cell cycle and thus growth.

Research is on going and has changed in resent years to concentrate on what happens around the cancer cells. What they are communicating to each other rather than concentrating research on the tumour itself. This has opened up a very interesting area of research that I was lucky enough to be involved with for my final year dissertation.

Why is cell communication important?

by Samuel Waldron