Understanding how 'tissue stiffening' affects cancer development
Cancer types:
Multiple cancers
Breast cancer
Lung cancer
General cancer research
Project period:
–
Research institute:
Karolinska Institutet
Award amount:
£241,404
Location:
Sweden
Professor Staffan Strömblad and his team are studying how many solid tumours become ‘stiff’, when scaffolding around cells hardens. They hope to better understand the role this stiffening plays in cancer development so that they can identify potential new cancer cures.
Hope for the future
Approximately 90% of adult cancers are solid tumours that form a solid lump of abnormal cells. Breast cancer and lung cancer are two of the most common types of solid tumour and are also two of the most deadly cancers worldwide.
Professor Strömblad and his team want to better understand how solid tumours develop, particularly the role of a process called ‘tissue stiffening’. It was understood that this ‘tissue stiffening’ can sometimes help cancers grow but the team think that it might also play a role in stopping some cancers developing. The researchers hope to use the knowledge they find to identify new ways to prevent, diagnose or treat these cancers.
Meet the scientist
Outside of work Professor Strömblad enjoys spending time in nature, reading and listening to different types of music. His top favorite artists are Leonard Cohen and Nina Simone, and among more recent artists he likes Rosalía.
The science
The cells in our body are surrounded by a scaffolding material called the extracellular matrix (ECM), which helps give cells their shape and function. In solid tumours the ECM re-organises and becomes stiffer. This stiffening has been widely shown to support late-stage cancer growth by helping cells to divide and spread. However, very little is understood about the role of ECM stiffening in early-stage cancer development.
Professor Staffan Strömblad and his team recently made a surprising discovery. In the early stages of cancer growth, ECM stiffening may have the opposite effect and actually helps to prevent tumour development. The researchers think that stiffening does this due to the cancer cells losing their ability to grow.
Together with my colleagues world-wide, we create new knowledge that is important for the understanding of how cancer arises, develops, and progresses. This advance of knowledge in the long run leads to improved cancer prevention, diagnosis and treatment. The research question in this project has the potential to provide fundamental new insights into the development of cancer, in which me and my colleagues are very interested.
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