How cells are influenced by their environment as tissues grow
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Loading... - Louie Powell
- 03 May 2023
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The cells of our body interact with their immediate environment. Researchers have now studied this interaction in detail. In time, they hope to use these findings for improved diagnosis and treatment of wound-healing disorders and cancer.
The cells of our body interact with their immediate environment. Researchers have now studied this interaction in detail. In time, they hope to use these findings for improved diagnosis and treatment of wound-healing disorders and cancer.
How does an embryo develop? How do children grow, wounds heal or cancer spread? All of this has to do with the growth of body tissue. One of the major research interests of ETH Professor Viola Vogel and her senior assistant Mario C. Benn is to understand this growth in detail. In their quest, they have departed from well-trodden research paths. For a long time, biology was about studying cells and the biochemistry of the metabolic processes within them, often regardless of their natural environment. Vogel and Benn, by contrast, are focusing on the extracellular matrix (ECM), a fibrous structure that surrounds body cells. This matrix is produced by the cells themselves and is a major component of all tissue.
There are many different interactions between body cells and this fibrous matrix. In recent years, research has increasingly shown that not all of these interactions are exclusively biochemical. In fact, some are mechanical or physical. For example, cells are capable of sensing mechanical stimuli from this extracellular matrix.
Together with their team of researchers, Vogel and Benn have now been able to replicate tissue growth in vitro and study this process in detail. "Our results underline the importance of the interactions between cells and the extracellular matrix," Benn says. In time, he hopes to make medical use of these findings - to prevent wound-healing disorders, for example, or in the therapy of cancer and connective-tissue diseases.
Cell transformation
Their study focused on two cell types: fibroblasts and myofibroblasts. Each of them is important for human tissue functionality, and each one can change into the other. Fibroblasts are found in the connective tissue of our organs, where they ensure that the extracellular matrix is continuously renewed and remains healthy. If an injury occurs or tissue growth is required, the fibroblasts transform into myofibroblasts, which play a key role in healing wounds and the growth of new tissue. Myofibroblasts not only produce large amounts of ECM but are also strong enough, for example, to pull together tissue in wounds.
"When it comes to wound healing, myofibroblasts are our friends," Benn says. Once their work is done, however, it is important that these myofibroblasts change back into the less active fibroblasts. If not, this can lead to fibrosis - the excessive formation of scar tissue. Myofibroblasts are also found in cancer tissue. For many cancers, high levels of these cells is associated with a poor prognosis. Read More…
