Collective Behavior And Stigmergy Of Cancer Cells

Cells and molecules in the environment are constantly moving and changing, for cells to function properly there is a need for equilibrium to be met. The size of the cell and the solution outside of the cell affects the rate of diffusion and osmosis in the cell. Cells are constantly trying to reach an equilibrium with the molecules and substances around it, which is why there are such terms as: hypertonic, hypotonic and isotonic. The procedures allowed testing of whether or not surface area or volume increased diffusion and how different substance control diffusion. Cells are constantly moving to reach equilibrium through diffusion and osmosis.

Cancer, medically called ‘tumorigenesis’ (Thaker, Lutgendorf, & Sood, 2007, p.430) occurs when cells in the body orient themselves for malignant growth. Such cells show ‘self-sufficiency in growth signals’, are ‘insensitive to anti-growth signals’ and have ‘limitless replicative potential’ (Thaker, Lutgendorf, & Sood, 2007, p.430). Once a particular set of cells become malignant, the malignancy can spread to other set of cells in different organs due to ‘crosstalk’ between the affected cells and their surrounding ‘tissues’ and ‘micro-environments’(Thaker, Lutgendorf, & Sood, 2007, p.430).

Numerous cells have little, finger-formed projections of the plasma film on their uncovered surfaces. These projections, called microvilli (solitary, microvillus), significantly increment the surface territory of the phone presented to the extracellular environment. Likewise, they cover the surfaces of cells that are effectively engrossing materials from the extracellular liquid, for example, the cells coating the stomach related tract. Microvilli have broad associations with the cytoskeleton. A center of small scale fibers hardens each microvillus and grapples it to the cytoskeleton at the terminal web.

Interlocking shapes, and one of the most important motions, swerve, is the spontaneous and infinitesimally small change of direction in the course of an atom’s downward fall.

Almost every aspect of biology involves interaction between different components and systems. It starts all the way at the cellular level with the interactions of cell organelles that allow a cell to function and it goes all the way up to the way different ecosystems come together to form complex communities and interactions. It is these interactions that make biological systems complex and how cells are specialized in one animal affects the way that animal interacts with the others around it. These interactions create ever changing and unique properties that make organisms function in the way in which they do so.

Epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is a cellular process that is essential for normal processes in many organisms, including embryonic development and wound healing, and is recapitulated in human disease, contributing to organ fibrosis and cancer progression (Thiery et al. 2009; Yang and Weinberg 2008). EMT describes the conversion of a cell with an epithelial phenotype to one with mesenchymal characteristics and can be a partial or complete transformation. Epithelial cells form the borders of tissues and organs, and are characterized by apical-basal polarity, contact with a basement membrane, and strong adherence to other epithelial cells through intercellular junctions including adherens junctions, tight junctions, and desmosomes. Conversely, mesenchymal cells have front-rear polarity and generally lack cell-cell contact, allowing them to be motile. During human embryonic development, EMT is essential for the formation of a variety of tissues, including mesoderm, neural crest, somites, palate, pancreas, liver, reproductive tracts, and heart valves (Thiery et al. 2009; Yang and Weinberg 2008). After development, partial EMT also contributes to wound healing (Thiery et al. 2009). However, EMT can also play a more insidious role by factoring into tumour progression.

Both unicellular and multicellular organisms use cell communication in order to elicit a response which helps an organism coordinate and respond to their environment. Cellular communication can occur through direct contact, local signaling, or long-distance signaling. For a response to occur, a message much reach a receptor that

In 1956, age sixteen, Patricia Bath was chosen to participate in a program at Yeshiva University under Dr. Robert O. Bernard where she investigated data for cancer cell growth. At the end of the course she had developed an equation that could anticipate cancer cell growth. This equation was actually used along with Bernard’s research, which was later presented at an international conference.

Cancer is listed as the second most common cause of death in western countries; particularly, in adults. Though it has a long antiquity, its prevalence and incidence today is pervasive and the war on cancer has not been promising. Malignant neoplasia is characterized by uncontrolled growth and the ability to metastasize or spread from the original site. Cancer results from mutations that promote cell proliferation and inhibit cell adhesion (metastasis). According to the National Cancer Institute (2016), “Cancer can also spread regionally,

Once the slime molds exhibited habituation, however, the researchers allowed the slime molds that crossed salted bridges to fuse with slime molds that crossed plain bridges. After fusion, Vogel and Dussatour timed all of the slime molds as they crossed the bridges, and observed that the “mega-cells” formed from the fusion of a normal slime mold and a salt-habituated mold crossed the salted bridges just as fast as the unfused salt-habituated molds. They also found evidence that the habituation in the mega-cells was due to a transfer of knowledge, and not simply because the fused cell was a mixture of the habituated and unhabituated slime molds. This transfer of knowledge became apparent when the researchers noticed that the pseudopod that reached the food at the end of the bridge first most frequently came from the unhabituated section of the fused slime

Cancer cells can intrude other tissues in different forms (sheets, clusters, or singular cells) (INSERT REFERENCE HERE). As the cancer cells manifest, its morphology will change, which includes epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), mesenchymal to amoeboid transition (MAT) and collective to amoeboid transition (CAT).

A model cell was made of a visking tube filled with ‘cell contents’. The cell contents represent the cytoplasm of a cell structure membrane. The visking tube represents the plasma membrane of the cell. It acts as a semi-permeable barrier as

The uncontrollable spread of cancer is the principal event which leads to the death in individuals with cancer and it is the greatest barrier of developing cures for cancer. Metastasis is the progressive spread of malignant cancer cells from the primary tumour to secondary organ in distant sites and this potential is dependent on the specific microenvironment which support them to complete each step of the metastatic process (Poste & Fidler 1980). To understand the molecular basis of metastasis, investigators have now separated the complex and highly selective metastasis process into series of steps to try and solve the problems cause by

At 2 weeks, Melanie’s cells first started the miraculous transformation process of changing into the specialized cells that form all the parts of her body. At magnificent speed, cells begin to migrate forming three layers. Each of the layers are assigned to build something, the top layer are the cells that make skin, hair, teeth, and brain. When the cells in Melanie’s surface

When cell populations are used to form tissues and organs, proper 3D systems, with clinically relevant dimensions, are required to eventually scale up these findings into effective new treatments. 6