Nuevo método para distinguir entre células normales y cancerosas/New way to distinguish cancerous from normal cells

Un grupo de investigadores de la Universidad de Clarkson, liderados por Igor Sokolov, Director del Centro de Laboratorios de Nanoingeniería y Biotecnología, ha descubierto una nueva propiedad que permite distinguir las células normales de las cancerosas: las diferencias entre los delgados pelos que cubren su superficie.
Los resultados implican que la capa de pelos no puede ser ignorada como se hacía antes al caracterizar las células por métodos mecánicos. Los autores sugieren que esas diferencias podrían tener una significado biológico y que podrían ser utilizadas para la detección del cáncer.
Los pelos o cepillos de la superficie celular, microvilli, son importantes en la interacción con el entorno exterior. Sokolov y sus colegas estudiaron medidas tomadas en la superficie celular, utilizando un microscopio de fuerza atómica, un instrumento no convencional en la investigación biológica. Por tanto, las diferencias encontradas provienen de algo muy diferente a lo que se determina en biología convencional
Segón Sokolov, "las células cancerosas se detectan tradionalmente por me´todos bioquímicos. Sin embargo, a pesar de años de éxito, estos métodos no han podido derrotar al cáncer. Es por tanto muy importante buscar métodos alternativos y no tradicionales para estudiar el cáncer"

A group of Clarkson University researchers led by Nanoengineering and Biotechnology Laboratories Center (NABLAB) Director Igor Sokolov has discovered a previously unknown feature that distinguishes cancer from normal cells: the variation in brushes or tiny “hairs” that cover the cell surface.
The results imply that the brush layer cannot be ignored as was previously done when characterizing cells by mechanical methods. The authors suggest that the difference in the brush layers may have a biological significance, and can be used for detection of cancer.
Brushes on the cell surface, microvilli, are important for interacting with the external environment. Sokolov and his colleagues processed measurements — taken from the cell surface using an atomic force microscope, an instrumentwhich is not a conventional tool for biological research. As a result, the differences found were outside of what is conventionally measured in biology.
"Cancer cells are traditionally detected by biochemical means," says Sokolov. "However, despite many years of success, those methods have not resulted in defeating cancer. Therefore it is very important to search for alternative, nontraditional ways of looking at cancer"

Tomado de/Taken from Science Daily

Resumen de la Publicación/Abstract of the paper
S. Iyer, R. M. Gaikwad, V. Subba-Rao, C. D. Woodworth and Igor Sokolov, Atomic force microscopy detects differences in the surface brush of normal and cancerous cells, Nature Nanotechnology, Online April 13, 2009; DOI: 10.1038/nnano.2009.77
Abstract
The atomic force microscope is broadly used to study the morphology of cells, but it can also probe the mechanics of cells. It is now known that cancerous cells may have different mechanical properties to those of normal cells, but the reasons for these differences are poorly understood. Here, we report quantitatively the differences between normal and cancerous human cervical epithelial cells by considering the brush layer on the cell surface. These brush layers, which consist mainly of microvilli, microridges and cilia, are important for interactions with the environment. Deformation force curves obtained from cells in vitro were processed according to the 'brush on soft cell model'. We found that normal cells have brushes of one length, whereas cancerous cells have mostly two brush lengths of significantly different densities. The observed differences suggest that brush layers should be taken into account when characterizing the cell surface by mechanical means.