Almost 4 Chileans die annually due to lung cancer, according to statistics delivered by the Global Cancer Observatory (Globocan). “This work shows us how precancerous lesions in the lung are initiated by a change in cell behavior madre of that organ. They subsequently mutate – in a harmful and aggressive way – and then invade the healthy fabrics, ”explains Ignacio Borduel, academic of the Department of Physics of the Faculty of Physical and Mathematics Sciences of the University of Chile.
Aberrant basal cell clonal dynamics shape early lung carcinogenesiS (in Spanish “Basal cell aberrant dynamics shapes early pulmonary carcinogenesis”) is the name of this research. “Our contribution was to develop computational models where healthy and ‘mutant’ cells compete to be part of a tissue. With this we managed to predict very complex biological behaviors on how the propagation of precancerous lesions is carried out taking as a cancer scanning point, the trachea,” adds the physicist.
Spying on cancer before birth
The investigation focused on the so -called cells Mothers Basal, present in our air and pulmonary routes, which normally help keep the healthy tissue. “We show that under the action of certain carcinogenic agents, such as the smoke of the cigar, these cells – specifications of the trachea – can accumulate harmful mutations. These alterations modify natural cell behavior and interrupt their ability to differentiate. The above, leads them to move and replace healthy tissue cells even being able to invade the airways, which would not happen in tissues in tissues healthy, ”says Professor Bordeu.
The work combined advanced microscopy techniques, genetic engineering, bioinformatics, mathematical modeling and numerical simulations. This interdisciplinary approach included: cellular biologists, geneticists, biochemists, computer and physical, allowing to build a very sophisticated conceptual framework that seeks to study how certain cells become the origin of this type of cancer.
The next step: metastasis
According to Bordeu, the following “step” will be to analyze the evolution of precancerous lesions and how they end up becoming primary tumors and the most serious cases, in metastasis. “From a physical point of view, many open questions are left about how these lesions affect the mechanics and function of lung tissues. I hope this advance allows the development of new techniques for detection and early treatment of lung cancer of squamous cells,” he concludes
The first author of the Paper is Sandra Gómez-López, postdoctoral researcher of the Lungs for Living Research Center of the University College London (UCL). The work had the collaboration of scientists from that same institution, from Wellcoma Sanger Institute and the University of Cambridge (England). Ignacio Bordeu, who made Ph.D in the Imperial London of College, is the only Chilean of this initiative.
To see the results of this research published in the article: “Aberrant Basal Cell Clonal Dynamics Shape Early Lung Carcinogenesis”, by Science Magazine, review the following link https://www.science.org/doi/10
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