Since its discovery, scientists have been grappling to understand how cancer cells develop and proliferate in the human body. To grow and spread, these cells need to evade the body's natural immune system. Researchers from Bringham and women's Hospital, in collaboration with MIT, utilized nanotechnology and discovered a new way cancer cells disarm their cellular attackers by stretching out nanoscale tentacles that reach immune cells and pull out their power source.
Slurping the immune cell's mitochondria--the cell's powerhouse ultimately powers up the cancer cells and effectively depletes the immune cell.
What is Cancer and How Does it Work?
Cancer, according to the National Cancer Institute, is a type of disease where some cells of the body begin to uncontrollably grow and spread to different parts of the body.
Cancer can start from about any part of the human body, which is composed of trillion of cells. Under normal conditions, human cells would grow and multiply in a process known as cell division and form new cells as the human body needs them. When these cells either become damaged or grow old, they die, and new cells take over.
However, there are times when the orderly process of cell glitches, damaged, and abnormal cells multiply when they shouldn't. These then form tumors or lumps of tissues that can be either cancerous or not.
Nanotechnology Discovered Cancer Cell's Intercellular Nanotubes
In a study published in the journal Nature Nanotechnology, titled "Intercellular Nanotubes Mediate Mitochondrial Trafficking Between Cancer And Immune Cells," lead author Shiladitya Sengupta, co-director of Brigham's Center for Engineered Therapeutics, explains that cancer kills when it is able to suppress the immune system. Likewise, cancer cells metastasize, the team discovered that the intercellular nanotubes help both functions of cancer cells.
She adds that this is a new mechanism by which cancer cells evade the body's immune system and effectively gives researchers a new target to go after.
To understand the nanoscale interaction between cancer cells and immune cells, researchers set up an experiment where the team co-cultured breast cancer cells and immune cells like the T cells. By utilizing field-emission scanning electron microscopy, the team was able to catch a glimpse of an unusual phenomenon. Cancer cells and immune cells looked as though they were physically connected by nanoscale tendrils ranging from 100-1000 nanometers.
In some cases, researchers saw that the nanotubes came together, forming thicker tubes. Researchers then stained mitochondria from the T cells with a fluorescent dye and watched as the mitochondria were pulled out of the immune cells via nanotubes into the cancer cells, reports PhysOrg.
With the astonishing discovery, researchers then used inhibitors to prevent the nanotube formation in mouse models and saw a significant reduction in the growth of tumors.
Tanmoy Saha, Ph.D., co-author of the study, explains that the goal of cancer immunotherapy is to find the optimal combinations of therapies that improve outcomes. Based on the observations, there is now evidence supporting inhibitor nanotube formation could be combined with existing cancer immunotherapies.
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