Squeezing Out

Pushing through a crowd can be a slow, frustrating process. But for certain forms of cancer, feeling the squeeze triggers more determined movement, or metastasis. Here micro-computed tomography scans reveal healthy tissue lost in mice lungs after an eight-week invasion of previously-squeezed cancer cells (bottom) compared to non-squeezed cells (top). To investigate this, scientists passed breast cancer cells through a confined space multiple times, recreating the mechanical stresses found in living tissues. The confined cells adapt – making special proteins that prevent self-destruction via anoikis, a sort of safety mechanism that switches on when cells become detached from tissues. Bolstered by the effects of the squeeze, the breast cancer cells spread more aggressively. Using chemicals that ‘re-sensitise’ metastatic cells to anoikis may provide a new route to treating human cancers.

Written by John Ankers

John Ankers

Writer

A former researcher in systems biology, John is now an online biology tutor and professional coach supporting the wellbeing of scientists and NHS professionals. He's writing, too, of course.

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• Image from work by Deborah Fanfone and colleagues
• Cancer Research Center of Lyon (CRCL), INSERM 1052, CNRS, Lyon, France
• Image originally published with a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
• Published in eLife, March 2022