Researchers at the LUMC have penetrated deeper than ever before into towers with new, advanced techniques. This allows them to map the metabolism of individual cells in tumor tissue. The researchers can see which cells are in the tumor and how they behave. This science can contribute to the development of new treatments against cancer.
In the study published in the scientific journal Nature’s Waysthe researchers describe how the combination of the two approaches provides a better idea of the so-called tumor environment. The tumor environment consists of the cells, tissues and molecules that surround a tumor and interact with the tumor cells.
Full picture
Understanding this environment is essential not only for developing more effective cancer treatments, but also for determining how dangerous a tumor is for a patient. Before that, researchers took tumor tissues apart cell by cell. “The disadvantage was that you no longer knew where these cells came from. It was as if you had taken a Lego structure apart and thrown it block by block back into the box,” says one of the researchers, Marieke IJsselsteijn.
Two techniques
In the new study, the LUMC researchers using the high-tech equipment that the LUMC has in-house. They then combined imaging mass spectrometry (MS) and imaging mass cytometry (IMC) techniques. To do this, they worked intensively with the departments of pathology, human genetics, parasitology and the Center for Proteomics and Metabolomics of the LUMC.
With MS they look at the metabolism of the tumor; for example, how sugars are converted into energy. With IMC they can see how tumor cells and also immune cells behave in the tumor tissue. By combining these two methods, the metabolism in the machine can be seen in each cell.
Metabolism
The metabolism of cancer cells plays an important role in cancer research because it differs from the metabolism of healthy cells. Metabolism is essential to the body, as it contains all the chemical processes that convert food into energy and building materials. Metabolism helps with growth, energy production, recovery and breakdown of waste products in our body.
To visualize the metabolic system in tissue with MS, fresh or frozen tumor tissue is used. The quality of such tissue deteriorates rapidly, making it previously difficult to combine MS and IMC techniques. This is now fixed by repairing the tissue after the diagnosis through MS. This is done with a thin layer of coating, which ensures that the clothes stay good for a long time.
An important advantage of this is that scientists can now research the same piece of tissue twice in a row, without the quality of the material decreasing or the material being damaged. So the researchers can insert the two images created by the two methods. This allows them to see what cells are in a tissue and what these cells do.
A new PET scan
More good news about cancer research. An international team of researchers is led by the Radboud university medical center on it develop a new PET scan which can be used to differentiate between benign and malignant renal tumors. This new method provides clarity about the nature of the tumor even before surgery. In this way, surgery or biopsy can be avoided in many patients.
2024-10-03 05:01:26
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