Beyond Genes: How the Physical Environment Influences Breast Cancer
Breast Cancer Day was marked on 19 October
The Biofisika Institute investigates how cells perceive the stiffness of surrounding tissues and how this information can affect their behaviour
When studying cancer, attention is usually focused on genes and the molecules that regulate cellular activity. However, a team at the Biofisika Institute is investigating another, less widely known but increasingly important factor: the ability of cells to perceive the physical properties of their environment.
To mark Breast Cancer Day, the researchers wish to highlight a line of research that seeks to answer a fundamental question: what happens when cells detect that the tissue surrounding them is becoming stiffer? The answer could be important in improving our understanding of diseases such as breast cancer. Various studies have shown that tumours tend to exhibit stiffer tissues than healthy ones, and that these physical changes can alter cellular behaviour. In some cases, cells respond to these signals by adopting characteristics associated with more aggressive forms of the disease.
This phenomenon is the subject of mechanobiology, a discipline that examines how physical forces and properties influence living systems. At the Biofisika Institute, researchers are working to understand how these physical signals interact with the biochemical signals that have traditionally been at the centre of biomedical research.
“For many decades, mechanical forces were not taken into account when trying to understand biology and disease,” explains Ion Andreu, an Ikerbasque Research Fellow at the Biofisika Institute. “However, we now see that they are fundamental, from embryonic development to ageing, and also in diseases such as breast cancer.”
The research is being carried out by a multidisciplinary team that also includes, among others, Maddi García Ayerbe, a predoctoral researcher, and Cristina de la Parte, a research technician. Their objective is to understand the fundamental mechanisms through which cells integrate physical and chemical information from their surroundings in order to determine how they grow, move and respond to changes in tissues.
The research team stresses that its work is not aimed at developing an immediate treatment. Rather, it is basic research focused on generating knowledge about complex biological processes that are not yet fully understood. According to the researchers, this knowledge is what may provide the foundations for future biomedical applications.
As emerging disciplines such as mechanobiology become increasingly integrated with more established fields such as biochemistry, scientists hope to gain a more comprehensive understanding of complex diseases such as breast cancer.
