Detecting the cancer microenvironment may soon become much easier with the help of a new molecular biosensor recently developed by a team of scientists. Cancer cells secrete small vesicles, namely extracellular vesicles (EVs) covered with sugar molecules, Hyaluronan (HA), which has a direct link to tumor malignancies and is considered a potential biomarker for the early diagnosis of colon cancer. These EVs are abundant in body fluids (blood, stool, etc.) and all cell types secrete these EVs into the extracellular matrix.
Cancer cells secrete at least twice as many EVs into body fluids as normal cells). Therefore, these EVs could be isolated non-invasively from the patient’s body for early diagnosis of cancer. The HA sugar molecule associated with these cancer EVs is known to carry dangerous signals in tumor progression when it is fragmented by hyaluronidases (Hyals) and reactive oxygen species in pathological conditions.
Laboratory Dr. Tatini Rakshit, supported by an Inspire Faculty Grant from the Department of Science and Technology (DST), at the Shiv Nadar Institute of Eminence, Delhi, in collaboration with S. N. Bose National Center for Basic Sciences (SNBNCBS), Kolkata, Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics, Kolkata and IIT Bhilai, Chhatisgarh revealed contour lengths of HA on a single cancer cell-derived EV surface.
Their study showed that an EV derived from a single cancer cell is coated with very short-chain HA molecules (outline length less than 500 nanometers) using single-molecule techniques and clarified that these short-chain HA-coated EVs are significantly more elastic than normal cells. -derived EV.
This intrinsic elasticity of HA-coated EVs in cancer helps them resist many external forces during extracellular transport, uptake, cell secretion, adhesion to cell surfaces, etc. The study was recently published in the Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters. These findings have implications for how sugar-coated bags increase the risk of cancer progression.
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